Unless you know the title and/or author of the book you are looking for, research topics should be searched by Keyword to maximize the number of references to a topic.
However, another way to search is to browse by Subject. This strategy is especially useful if you are having trouble narrowing your topic. Some likely search terms would be "History, Ancient" or "Egypt" or "Greece" or "Rome"--there are a number of subject terms you could use. These broad headings are followed by a secondary heading, such as a topic , then often a third heading that indicates a subtopic. So, for example, if you wanted to research family life in ancient Greece, you could enter your subject search terms this way:
Books about the Graeco-Roman World are to be found in the DE section of the Library. Subclass DT is used for books on African civilizations. Subclass DS covers books pertaining to history of the ancient Near East.