If McMaster Library does not provide access to a book that interests you, you can request it through RACER, our interlibrary loan system.
Books are a great resource to use when searching for general information on a topic. They are useful for understanding a topic in its context and provide summaries of existing research as well as offer a historical perspective.
Books are best found using the Search feature in our Library Catalogue.
Scholarly books are a great resource - watch this video to learn how to recognize one. (2:29)
This video explains how to enter keywords into the catalogue to find books on a particular topic. (1:13)
This video shows you how to search by book title using the library catalogue. (0:47)
How can you tell of a book is an academic source? One of the quickest and easiest ways is to check the publisher. If one of these companies published the book, there's a good chance that the book is an academic source: