AFC 302w

Writing for African-American Studies

Books at EMU and beyond

Online Reference Books

Online reference books are useful to get a feel for your topic, especially if you are not sure if you need to narrow it down. All of the sources that are compiled in the databases listed below are ebooks with a searchable format. 

Step-by-Step Finding Books

To find books on a topic using the EMU Library's Esearch system:

Option 1 - Quick Search

1.  The Esearch box is available on the EMU Library's homepage.

2.  Type words and phrases that describe your topic into the Esearch box.

3.  Click on the "Search" button.

4.  At the results page, use the filters in the left-hand column to refine your search. For example, click on "Library Catalog" to limit to items in the Library Catalog, or click on "Book/eBook" under the "Content Type" filter to limit the results to books only.

Option 2 - Advanced Search

1. Make sure you are at the Esearch "Advanced" search screen

2. In the top box, type in a words or phrases that describe your topic.

3. Type in additional search terms in the boxes below, if needed. Change the type of search you are doing from "All Fields" to other fields such as author, title, and subject using the drop-down box to the left of each search box.

4.  To limit to books only, scroll down the screen to the "Show content type" options and change "Any" to "Books/eBooks." You can also limit to items in the library's catalog by scrolling to the "Show only" options and clicking box next to "Items in the library catalog (includes mostly print and physical material)."

5. Click on the "Search" button located in the bottom left-hand corner of the page.

Library search limited to all books

Esearch logo

Library search limited to E-books:

Esearch logo

How to Look up Books

Locating books on the Shelf

Requesting Items from Storage