LibGuides: College Writing: Books & Ebooks

About Books

Reference Books

Reference Books are the best places to find concise summaries and background information on a topic. Reference books cannot be checked out of the library. Some of them are available as databases or ebooks.

Circulating Books

Circulating books (books you can check out) may also provide summaries and background information, but usually go into greater depth about a topic.

Using Books for Research

Using books for research does not always mean that you need to read the entire book.

Use the table of contents and the index to find where in a book information about your topic is located.
The introduction to a book may be a good place to find background information on the topic the book is about.
You should read enough of a book or chapter to understand what an author is saying and quote her correctly.
Sometimes chapters in books are complete works written by different authors, making them ideal for research.

The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language

ebook in Credo Reference

Oxford English Dictionary

The authoritative dictionary of the evolution of the English language.

The American Heritage® Roget's Thesaurus

ebook in Credo Reference

Oxford Encyclopedia of Children's Literature

Documents and interprets the books read by children throughout the world.

Columbia Gazetteer

Encyclopedia of geographical places and features.

Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America

Covers events, inventions, and social movements affecting the way Americans view, prepare, and consume food and drink.

Health Reference Series Online

Basic medical information for patients, families, caregivers, and the general public.

Online Reference and Ebooks

Ebook Central
Provides full-text e-books in a wide range of subject areas along with tools to find, use, and manage the information.

For help, see the Quick Start Guide.
Credo Reference
Online reference library that provides access to a growing selection of reference books.

Online reference library that provides access to a growing selection of reference books. Includes encyclopedias, dictionaries, thesauri, books of quotations, and a range of subject-specific titles from art to accountancy and literature to law. Credo Reference generates a network of cross-references that provide an easy-to-follow trail to related information contained anywhere within the library.

Credo Reference Subject Guides
Gale eBooks
Encyclopedias, almanacs, and specialized reference sources.

Gale eBooks is a database of encyclopedias and specialized reference sources for multidisciplinary research.

Help videos
Salem Press
Salem Press titles in literature, history, science, and health.

Salem Press titles in literature, history, science, and health. Includes Magill's Literary Annual 1977-current, Masterplots, Magill's Medical Guide, the Great Events and Great Lives from History reference series, and several science encyclopedias.

PDF Guide
Sage Knowledge
Reference books including social science, green issues, and criminal justice.

SAGE Knowledge provides an interface to search SAGE Book, Business Case, Reference, and Video titles in the social sciences. Links to SAGE Journals and SAGE Research Methods are provided through a "SAGE Recommends" widget.

PDF Guide
Statistical Abstract of the United States
Summary of statistics on the social, political, and economic organization of the United States.

Published by Proquest and built to find and retrieve statistical content, the Statistical Abstract includes tables on thousands of different topics regarding the on the social, political, and economic organization of the United States. It provides access to statistical information produced by U.S. Federal agencies, states, private organizations, and major intergovernmental organizations.

Proquest LibGuide

Other book catalogs

MOBIUS
See and request books from other academic libraries in Missouri.

WorldCat
Books and other materials in libraries worldwide, links to Internet resources.

OCLC catalog of books, web resources, and other material worldwide, including 49 million bibliographic records in over 400 languages.

HTML Guide