Selecting books
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In a list of results from your library’s catalog, a book’s title and date of publication will often be your first clues as to whether the book is worth consulting. If a title looks interesting, you can click on it for further information: the book’s subject matter and its length, for example.
After you have conducted a search in the catalog, you can scan for potential sources and preview the most promising. The same techniques can apply to books that you find by browsing the library shelves.
Scanning results (or the shelves) for potential usefulness
- Title and brief description (How relevant?)
- Date (How current?)
- Publisher (How scholarly? How authoritative?)
- Length (How substantial?)
Look in the search results for keywords that are associated with a book. Sometimes those keywords can suggest other searches that might generate additional relevant books.
Previewing promising books
- Glance through the table of contents, keeping your research question in mind. Even if the entire book is not relevant, some chapters or sections may prove useful.
- Scan the preface in search of a statement of the author’s purposes.
- Use the index to look up a few words related to your topic.
- If a chapter looks useful, read its opening and closing paragraphs and skim any headings.
- While you are at the shelf looking at your book, see if other useful books are on the shelf.