This page focuses on books. It offers examples of the types of books which may be used during a research assignment. One characteristic of the Library of Congress Classification System, which is the system that Houston Cole Library uses, is that like is shelved with like. For the researcher this means that once you have found the location of the particular book you are seeking, you should scan the titles of nearby books to see if there are others that might help you with your research project.
These are some books available through Houston Cole Library. HCL provides some books in print format, some in electronic format, and some in both. The catalog record for each book indicates the formats in which it is available.
Basic search in the Houston Cole Library catalog.
To find books on a topic, you can either search the Library Catlaog using the above search widget or you can search one of the following databases:
To find reference books on a topic, you can either search the Library Catlaog using the above search widget or you can search one of the following databases:
Reference books are of many types (bibliographies, dictionaries, encyclopedias, gazetteers) and are used for various purposes and at different stages during the research process. Some academic disciplines, particularly those in the humanities, rely more heavily on reference books than do disciplines in the sciences or social sciences. Because of their connection to an academic discipline, these works are called specialized reference books. Their role and what they provide in research is different from what is done by electronic databases or circulating books that can be checked out. For student research, probably the most useful type of specialized reference book is the encyclopedia (or book under a different designation that still functions as an encyclopedia).
In research, reference books are useful to
Aside from assisting in research, these specialized reference encyclopedias also can
Here is a selection of our reference books for English literature. Please use the Library JaxCat Catalog to find more reference books. [See the Important Journals box under the Find Articles tab for Year's Work in English Studies.]