Use books for in-depth information on a subject.

Books may offer scholarly analysis, personal accounts, opinion essays, or something else. 

Many books are collections of articles or chapters by different authors. You can pick and choose chapters, rather than read an entire book. Just cite accordingly!

Wondering what to type in the search box? Some sample keyword searches:

• men 
• (men OR masculinity) 
• masculinity AND "gender roles" 
• (men OR masculinity) AND sports AND race

Tip: You can use the library catalog to automatically search for print or ebooks.

Tip: Click on a book title in your results list to learn more about each book.

• The record for Restorative Justice and Violence Against Women, for example, includes information on the book's contents as well as three useful subject headings.
• Subject headings are a controlled vocabulary used in databases to organize information on a subject. Open the link to a relevant subject heading to find other books on the same topic. 

Search for books and videos available at the library and online.

A call number is a book's "address" - where it belongs on the library's shelves. Call numbers are located on the spine of the books and are listed in the catalog. This "address" is based on what the book is about, so that books on the same topic will be physically grouped together in the library. The 305.3-ish range is largely about gender issues.  You can go to the shelves in that area, or you can sit right here and browse from your seat. 

Try it!

Keywords are search terms related to your topic.

You use keywords to search library tools or the web. Keywords are search terms that describe the specific concepts or issues of your assignment theme and/or topic. Here are a few tips about using keywords:

• Put phrases in quotes: "gender roles"
• Keywords have synonyms;and related terms: for example, for tv, try television, television programs, children's televison, soap operas, broadcasting, media, or popular culture
• Combine keywords with Boolean operators "AND" and "OR" to get more relevant results.
• Use "AND" to combine terms to focus your search (women AND combat)<
• Use "OR" to combine terms and broaden your search (men OR masculinity)

Searching Ebook Collections

The next step in the process is to find evidence to support your own argument. Books are a great place to browse for more evidence. Holman Library has a collection of over 25,000 electronic books that you can read online.

• You can search for these electronic books, or eBooks, in the library catalog (see instructions below), or you can try searching your topic in ebook databases directly.