Expository Writing Research Guide

You can use the library's catalog to find many books and other materials such as videos, government publications, and more. 

Searching for Ebooks

Can't make it into the library or want to see all of the options available to you? Try looking at some of our Ebook collections! Some of these books are discoverable in the catalog, but others can only be discovered by searching the databases themselves. Here are some of the best bet places to look for ebooks:

Take a look at a full list of databases which include ebooks.

Indicated in the image below, there are a couple of sections that are particularly helpful in looking at the book record to see if it is something that might be useful for your project.

1. Bibliographic/Citation Information: The section at the top of the book's record will include helpful information such as the book's title, author or editor, publisher, and year of publication. 
2. Summary/Contents: Further down on the page, under the "Details" heading there are a couple of sections that can be helpful in learning a little more about the book before going to look at it on the shelf. The summary section will contain a quick paragraph describing the contents of the book. Other times, you may see a Contents section will often include chapter titles for the book.
3. Subjects: Subjects are assigned to each item in the catalog to describe what the book is about. These can be helpful in a couple of ways - you can actually click on these subjects to find all of the other items in the catalog that also use the same subject heading and these subjects can be helpful in gathering ideas for search terms to use!

The Bentley Library uses the Library of Congress (LC) Call Number System as a way to organize our books. These books are shelved by subject, so if you go to look for a book in the library - you might find others on your topic on the shelf right near the one you were looking for!

LC Call numbers are "read" alphanumerically. Look for the letters first, then the numbers! 

If you need help finding a book in the building, please ask at the Reference Desk or the Library Services desk for help!

1. Location Information You will need the location information to find the book in the library. The Location will tell you which collection the book is in while the Call Number will help you to locate the book on the shelf. Make sure to check the Status - if it says available, that means the book is available to check out! 
2. Click the Map it button in the catalog to open a map to point you towards the general area the book is in the library. Make sure to check which floor on the map where the book is located.
3. Want to place a hold on a particular book? Click the Request It button and sign in to your library account to place a hold on that book. Library Services will pull that book off the shelf and you can pick it up at the Library Services desk once you get an email saying it is ready.

Example image of a "Map it" for an item from the catalog.