AMS/HST/WGS 382 Neumann: Finding Books
Remember...
Books contain a lot of text and other information, but our catalogs search the words in titles, table of contents (sometimes), and subject headings. Keep this in mind when searching for books and consider searching for broader terms rather than very precise topics.
Find Books and Ebooks
Find books and other materials owned by the Miami University Libraries by using the...
Miami University Online Catalog
Search By: Keyword
Limit By: General Topic and Where The Item is Located
Look For: Call Number, Location, and Availability
Request Item from other MU Libraries
Click on the title of an item to find out more information about that item and to get the citation for that item. To find the citation, click on the icon that looks like a yellow piece of paper and says "Cite" when you hover over it. In the box that opens, scroll to find the citation in the style you need, and you can highlight, copy, and paste that into your references page. Always be sure to double-check your copied citations, though. Often, formatting such as italics and hanging indents, are not pasted over correctly. You will need to do some manual reformatting to ensure that you receive full credit for this portion of your assignment.
Change Date Range: by sliding the rule under "Publication Date" or by typing in specific years in the boxes. (red box in screenshot) Your results list will then only include items that were published within your specified date range.
Get Only Ebooks: In the left-hand column, click on the arrow next to "Material Type" and then check the box next to "eBooks". (red arrow in screenshot)
Continue Searching in OhioLINK for unavailable titles. OhioLINK allows you to request books from college and university libraries all over the state of Ohio.
Why Use Books?
You do not need to read an entire book cover to cover in order to use it as a source in your research assignment.
Look at the table of contents to see if there is a chapter that addresses your narrower aspect of a broader topic covered in a book. For example: Is there a chapter about Ohio's response to the opioid epidemic in a book about the broader national response?
Or you can use the book's index to see which specific pages a book contain information about your topic and read only those pages. (For example: Perhaps a book about the opioid epidemic includes information about Ohio drug courts on pages 72-75).
Finding Book Length Biographies
Find books and other materials owned by the Miami University Libraries by using the...
Miami University Online Catalog
Search By: Keyword, Author, Title or Subject Heading
Limit By: General Topic and Where The Item is Located
Look For: Call Number, Location, and Availability
Request Item for delivery from other MU Libraries
Continue Searching in OhioLINK for unavailable titles or additional items
Get Only Ebooks: In the left-hand column, click on the arrow next to "Material Type" and then check the box next to "eBooks".
Tip: To find books about a person enter their name in the search box like this: "Lastname, Firstname". Then, on the dropdown menu, change from keyword searching to "subject heading." This will give you a list of biographies and autobiographies of the person.
