HIST121: World Civilization I: UDHS121 Anderson

Once you find a book in the catalog, you need to look at 3 different things to figure out where to find the book.

First: Look at the status (in the blue box)--Is your book Available or Checked out?

Second: Determine what collection (in the purple box)--Which floor is the book on?

Third: Write down the call number (in the green box)--This call number is like the book's address. You need the whole thing.

This book is in the Circulating Collection on the third floor. You know it's the third floor and not the first floor because the Call Number starts with ND which is between L-Z, not A-K.

This book is on the first floor in the Reference Collection. This means it's on the short shelves on the first floor near the reference desk. It also means you cannot check it out, or take it from the building.

This book is also on the first floor. Folios are large "coffee table size" books located near the elevators on the short shelves on first floor. Unlike Reference books found on the first floor short shelves, you can check out Folio books.

The second floor of the library, also known as the Curriculum Library, is where all the children's and young adult books are. All of the books on the 2nd floor are either for children or for teachers to use with children. You shouldn't use these for your paper.

• Searching for an event or person that has two or more words? Try putting the event in quotation marks, for example "Punic Wars" but remember "lives of Vikings during the Middle Ages" means that the author must use the exact phrase. Most historical scholars will use the exact phrase Punic Wars when talking about Vikings and the Middle Ages, chances are they won't use that exact wording.
• Some historical events are called more than one thing. Be sure to search for alternate names for the event. For example, The Black Plague is also referred to as the The Black Death, The Bubonic Plague, or even The Great Plague.
• Remember many of the names of people (especially from non-Western areas) have been translated to English and have alternate spellings. Shi Huangdi is a perfect example of this. He is sometimes referred to as Qin Shi Huang, Qin Shihuangdi, Shihuangdi among others. Try searching the alternate spellings.
• If searching for a person, try searching their name and some specific attribute or accomplishment you'd like to focus on. Otherwise you might end up with lots of biographical info but not much else.

The library has created cheat sheets with basic citation examples and paper formatting tips for APA and MLA.

How do I...