Find background information
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.
- Sage ReferenceSearch for your topic directly, or browse in the counseling and psychotherapy, education, health and social care, or psychology sections.
- Oxford ReferenceSearch for your topic directly, or browse in the social science or society and culture sections.
Find books and e-books
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, using "Advanced Search" to limit your results to books or e-books.
Search libraries everywhere
- WorldCatWorldCat is a shared catalog of libraries across the country. If you don't find materials on your topic at the USU library, try searching WorldCat to see what else is out there.
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.
Library Help
Regional Campus and online students
Check out the Regional Campus and Online Library Services guide for details about how you can get the information you need wherever you are.
We'll even mail you library books for free!
