Philosophy Subject Guide: Books & Media

Books provide in-depth information on broad subject areas. Researchers use them when they need:

• Historical context or comprehensive background information for their subject area
• Synthesis and analysis of events and information

Note: Often a chapter or two, rather than the entire book, are all that you may need.

Basic Search

• Use the basic search when you're exploring a topic, or when you're searching for a specific book but are unsure of the exact title or author.
• The catalog searches the title, author, subjects, keywords, etc. from each item description - for the words you typed.

Advanced Search

• Use the advanced search feature when you know the specific title and author or are combining multiple concepts.
• Use the drop down menus to choose which field you want to search.
• Each search term must appear in the catalog record where/how you specified for the items to be included in the results list.

Searching for Ebooks

• Find the Library's full-text ebooks that include all of the terms that you type.
• The catalog searches the title, author, subjects, keywords, etc. from each item description - for the words you typed.

Accessing an Ebook

• Click on the tiny link, URL, at the end of the ebook description in your search results to get to the actual ebook.
• Off-campus users will be prompted to login with their HCC login credentials to view the actual ebook.

Why Use...

Google Books is

Google's effort to make it easier to find information -- in this case, the information found in print books. By partnering with libraries to digitize books from their collections, they aim to build a searchable catalog of the world's books online. - Google Books

Google Books Search

Search Tips:

1. Limit by View: We recommend that you  limit your search to Preview. Click on Search Tools in the upper-right horizontal bar on the search results page. Click on Any Books an limit to Preview.
   • Full View -- If the book is free of copyright restrictions, you'll be able to read the entire book. Typically these are older books
   • Preview View -- If the book has some copyright restrictions, you'll be able to read portions
   • No preview -- If the book has full copyright restrictions, you will only see that the book exists.
2. Limit by Date of Publication: Limit your search to 21st Century if you need more recent information. Click on Search Tools in the upper-right horizontal bar on the search results page. Click on Any Time and limit to 21st Century