Communication  Tags: communication broadcasting mass media journalism  

Books are useful for in depth information, including historical context, overview, synthesis and analysis of information. Often a chapter or two, rather than the entire book, are all that may be needed for your topic. The process of writing, editng, and publishing a book is lengthy, thus even the most recently published book may not contain the most current information on a topic.

Tips for searching MARQCAT

• Identify single words or short phrases that represent the major idea of your topic
  
• Try these as "Subject" searches in MARQCAT, follow the catalog's suggested headings
• Try the same words/phrases as "Keyword" searches.
  
• Look at the subject headings on the records of books good for your topic and search any that you haven't tried yet.

MARQCAT, the Marquette Libraries catalog, lists books, DVDs, videos, and CDs the library owns in print or electronic format.

Search for books on a topic using either the 'Subject' search or the 'Keyword' search modes. See the Search Tips in the left column box.

Search by: Author Title Subject Words LC Call Number ISBN/ISSN Genre
for:
in: Entire Collection Funding Info Center Journals (Electronic & Print) Law Library Raynor Archives Raynor Reference Videos/DVDs

Advanced Keyword Search

Please fill in the boxes, select limits, and click
Submit (or choose a Simple Keyword Search):

Look for books and other items in libraries near and far. Most items you find may be requested through Interlibrary Loan.

Searches books in the Google Books project.  Identifies and ranks books with relevant content.  Click on book title/cover for more information including a 'Find in a Library' which will locate nearby libraries with the book and provide a link to search MARQCAT.  If the book is out of copyright and in the public domain, the full text can be viewed.

The quality and relevance of information in books needs to be evaluated. What to look for:

Authority of the authors, editors - Determine the expertise of the authors, does it match the subject content of their writing?

Scope of Content - Does the content cover your topic to the degree you need? Is it in-depth or does it simply provide an overview with little facts, details, analysis?

Timeliness - Is the content timely for your topic. This is determined somewhat by the time period of your topic.

For help finding book reviews see this research guide:
Book Reviews