"Are you using books as part of your research?" 

Common responses to the question:

• "Why should I use books for researching my topic? Isn't that what articles are for?"
• "I don't have time to read a whole book before writing my paper."
• "There aren't any books on my very specific topic."
• "I could only find an E-book and I don't like using them." 

Let's explore why books are a great way to research your topic, how to use them, and how to find them.

Why Use Books for Research

Books are excellent sources for researching: 

• Background information (such as people and dates);
• In-depth information on the topic;
• History of the topic; and
• A general overview of the broader topic.

Books are different from journal articles because they have they option to have much more information contained inside. Sometimes a book on a very specific topic cannot be found, but there may be a chapter on the very specific topic within a book on the broader topic.

Tips for Using Books

There are tools to help discover what chapters or sections of chapters would be useful. Listed below are four of these tools. Knowing how to use them will save you time and effort, as well as make you a better researcher.

• Table of Contents:  Located at the front of a book; laying out what the book is discussing. Find the chapter title that connects with your topic.
• Preface, Forward, or Introduction:  Learn what the author is trying to prove or the information the author is presenting first. This is a great place to gain basic knowledge on a topic and find keywords.
• Bibliography: Located at the end of the book. (Not all book have bibliographies.) This tool will help you locate the sources the author used to prove his/her point. Look up these resources for more useful information.
• Index: Located at the end of a book. (Again, not all books include an index.) Look for your topic/keywords in the index. This will guide you to the sections of the book which will be most useful.

Overview • Library Catalogs

What is the library catalog? Generally speaking, a library catalog is a bibliographic listing of all items - physical and electronic - found in a library collection.

Ashland University students have access to Archer Library catalog and the OhioLINK Library catalog.

• Archer Library catalog contains information to help users locate resources, such as books, eBooks, music, journals, in Archer Library's collections.
   
• The OhioLINK catalog is a shared resource that contains the holdings of OhioLINK libraries. Students are able to request items from the OL catalog that are not available in Archer Library's catalog.

Archer Library Catalog

Start your search with Archer Library catalog:

OhioLINK Catalog

Expand your search & request books from OhioLINK