Finding Books
Books can provide a comprehensive overview of your topic by pointing you towards key ideas, arguments, and thinkers. Scan the index or the table of contents to find the most relevant chapter. Use the bibliography for more leads.
- Library CatalogYou know it, you love it: the Coates catalog. Be sure to check the whole entry for additional searching help in the form of subject keywords, Google Books previews, tables of contents, etc.
- WorldCatWorldCat is a catalog of library holdings worldwide. When Trinity doesn't have a book you need, you can send an Interlibrary Loan (ILL) request straight from WorldCat.
- Google BooksFull page previews are available for millions of titles, and your keywords appear in their original context. Very useful, especially when searching for proper names, exact phrases, and non-synonymous concepts.
Subject Headings & Keywords
Subject headings are maintained by the Library of Congress and applied to sources to make them discoverable. Try using them in a subject search in conjunction with keywords derived from your topic.
Here's an example of subject headings as they appear in the library catalog:
Can't find a way to work Blade Runner into your research on ancient Greek philosophy? No problem! There are subject headings for any topic you can imagine.