Online Research Tutorial: Choosing the Right Tools: Where do I find books?

Searching for Books

When you are searching for books, you have several options. You can search for books at Roosevelt, books held by IShare Libraries, and also books found in the WorldCat catalog. You need a Library Account for IShare books, and an ILLIad account for books found in WorldCat. To learn more about searching for books, click HERE.

The quickest option for finding books is to look in the RU Catalog to see if the library owns a copy of the book you need.

1. Go to the library's home page
2. Click into the search box under the words Search RU Catalog
3. If you know your book's title or author, type it in the box, select title or author from the drop-down list, and click Search.
4. If you aren't looking for a specific book and simply want to browse either type some keywords in the box and click Search, or type a keyword and select Subject to see a list of subjects.

When you have found a book in the RU Catalog, look at the information in the Location tab, as well as its Call Number and Status:

Using the right tools and creating a strong search.

Introduction

Read below to answer the following questions:

• How do I select the right search tools?
• What is a database?
• How do I find books?

Then follow these steps to begin your research process:

• Step 1: Keyword searching
  
  • Constructing a keyword search
• Step 2:  Finding keywords and synonyms
  • Use synonyms to expand your search
• Step 3: Subject terms
  • Use subject headings to find very specific articles on your topic
    
• Step 4:  Boolean Searches
  • Use boolean operators ("AND" "OR" and "NOT") to refine your searching
• Step 5: Limiting your Search
  • Limit your search to get more accurate and useful results