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Research Guides

Books

Non-fiction books (aka historical monographs) can provide both an overview and in depth analysis of a topic, event or person. Many books will include footnotes and bibliography that can lead you to other research/writings on the topic including primary sources.

Find Books

There are two ways to find books: the UW Only Catalog (just searches for books available in the UW Libraries system) and UW Worldcat (searches the UW Libraries and 1000s of libraries located worldwide).

Using the UW Libraries Catalog

  • Keyword - broadest type of search.  Type in the keywords that broadly describe your topic linked with the AND connector.  For example: korea and japanese occupation.
  • Title - search for a specific book by title.  Change the box label from "keyword" to "title" and type in the first few words of the book title.  For example: france in indochina
  • Author - search for books written by a specific author. Change the box label from "keyword" to "author" and type in the last name followed by the first name of the author.  For example:  giebel christoph

Search the UW Libraries Catalog




[advanced search]

 


 

Using UW Worldcat

UW WorldCat: Search UW Libraries and beyond What is UW WorldCat?


UW Worldcat is especially useful when you want to search as broadly as possible for a topic or when you are seeking a relatively rare item that isn't likely to be available at the UW. It also facilitates borrowing books from other libraries.


Tips for searching UW WorldCat for Books:

  • Use the tabs to search just the book portion of UW Worldcat -- this will automatically omit book reviews, other articles and such from your search results.
  • When searching for a specific book use quotations around the first few words of the title, e.g. "france in indochina colonial"
  • Getting too many irrelevant results? Use the toolbar on the left to narrow down your search.  You can limit by format, author, language, publication date, etc.