Eng 100 - Using Online Library Resources - Professor McGaw - SP20: Find Books

Use the Library Catalog to search for electronic books by subject, keyword, author, or title.

• refine search results by Availability and select Available Online
• further refine the results by Resource Type and select Books 

Finding Books on Your Topic 

Once you have chosen a topic and done your background research you will be ready to conduct more comprehensive research using books.

Use the Library Catalog to find books. Books can provide a broad overview of a topic or in-depth information. You can search for books by author, title, subject, or keyword.

EXAMPLE:

Listed below are some examples of Library of Congress Subject Headings used in the catalog for searching books relating to the Death Penalty.

• Capital punishment
• Discrimination in capital punishment
• Criminal law
• Executions and executioners
• Death row
• Punishment

REMEMBER:

• You can also search by keyword but your search will not be as specific.
• Refine search results using limiter column.

Stating your topic idea as a question helps you understand the key concepts.

EXAMPLE:

If you are interested in finding out about use of alcoholic beverages by college students, you might pose the question, "What effect does use of alcoholic beverages have on the health of college students?"

Identify the main concepts or keywords in your question. In this case they are alcoholic beverages, health, and college students.