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The Justice Archives - Von Torres: Using Books for Research

Why use books?

Using a book can put your topic in perspective. 

  • Books are more likely to provide background information on a topic to help you understand the topic better. 

  • Books can provide a wider scope of information about a subject, thus helping you narrow and focus your topic. 

  • A book can also contain references to the sources they used and you may discover that you’re interested in finding those sources – this is called citation chasing. 

Keep in mind, if you are writing about something current that’s happened within the past year, you may not find current books on your topic. Books take a long time to get researched and published, so they are not as current as articles and other forms of information. 

Library To Go

Library-to-Go is a service available to all students, staff, and faculty, that allows you to request books, CD audiobooks, and DVDs from the library’s general collection for easy, quick pick up on campus during open hours.

  • Sign-in to the CCC OneSearch Catalog to request the items you’d like to check out.
  • Please include your preferred phone number in the request comments.
  • A library staff member will then pull the items and you will be notified that they are ready for pick up at the library.
  • Note that this service is for general collection items and does not apply to reserve textbooks and anatomy models.

eBooks

eBooks are a really easy and convenient way to get information on a topic because you don't have to go into a library to check them out, you don't have to worry about turning them back in on time, and they're available 24/7

OneSearch

Use the search box below to find books available at the Clovis Community College Library!
 




Tips for Finding & Using Books in Research

Step 1: Search using keywords or key phrases rather than whole sentences or questions. 

  • Example: Use “social justice” and “education” instead of a question like “What does social justice in education mean?” 

Step 2: Once you have search results, use the left sidebar menu to narrow your search results by format, author, language, and more. 

  • If you are looking for physical books in the library, you can narrow the "Availability" to "Held by library". 

  • If you are looking for eBooks, you can narrow the "Availability" to "Available online" and Narrow the "Format" to Books.

Step 3: Once you have clicked on a book in your search results to learn more, scroll down the page to the “Details” section to see the table of contents (“Contents”) 

  • You will never need the whole book for your research. 

  • You might find a chapter/section that would be relevant to your topic. 

Physical books tip:  When you go to the library to find the book you want to check out, look at the books around it on the shelf.  Books are organized by subjects and chances are that the books next to your book are about the same topic

eBooks tip:  some eBooks can be accessed through the main library catalog, OneSearch.  Others are available in specific databases provided on this page.  You can navigate the eBook through the hyperlinked table of content in each of the books