HDFS: Research in Human Development & Family Studies: Books & Background Info

Background information can help you get a feel for the context of a topic, narrow down a general topic, or simply identify words and terms associated with an area of research.

Encyclopedias and other reference resources are useful to consult for these types of information, and might even contain bibliographies to point you toward more sources.

Print books or e-books are useful when you need more context or more detail than space allows in a scholarly journal article. A book might offer you a history of your topic, an in-depth case study, a collection of essays by experts in a field, and more. To find books on your topic, start your search from the library catalog.

1. From the library home page, click the "Books & Media" under the Find section.

2. This will take you to the library's catalog (Locate). The catalog search encompasses all physical materials and e-books the library has access to.

3. To only get e-books in the results, under Refine results (left), click FORMAT. From this dropdown menu, make sure E-Book is selected.

4. Then in the search bar, type in an author, title, or keyword related to the topic you're searching for.

5. Once you find the title of the e-book you'd like to view, you can either click the "View details" link which takes you to the items detail page OR click the access link which takes you to the the e-book.

Did you find something you need that we don't own? You can request it (for free) from another library, whether it's an article scan or a book. Just login to your inter-library services account with your A# and password to make your request.