Scholarly books are written by experts for other experts and published by a university press or other academic publisher. They also contain references to outside research.
Use scholarly books or book chapters when you need more depth on a topic.
Use the table of contents (near the front of the book) and the index (at the back of the book) to see if there are any chapters or particular pages that may discuss a particular aspect of your topic. eBooks will also have a table of contents and an index; the index may be searchable, but you can also run a search within the text of the eBook itself.
The table below describes the common components of scholarly books, though not every section may be represented.
| Title Page | provides the publication information you need to properly cite the book, such as the complete title (sometimes, book have subtitles), names of all authors or editors, edition of the book if there is more than one, name of the publisher, city of publication, and date of publication. |
| Table of Contents | provides a list of the chapters with the corresponding page numbers. The table of contents may give a general idea of the topics covered in the book, as well as a sense of how the book is arranged (e.g., chronologically). |
| List of Illustrations | provides a list of photographs, drawings, tables, or other types of illustrations used to support the contents of the book, usually with corresponding page numbers. |
| Preface, Foreward, or Introduction | provides the reader with the author's intention or purpose for writing the book, as well as a sense of the kind of research that was used to produce the book. |
| Bibliography, References List, or Further Readings | a list of sources that were used to create the book or a list of additional sources on the topic. Bibliographies may be located at the ends of chapters throughout the book, or at the end of the book. |
| Index |
located at the back of the book, the index is an alphabetical list of the specific subjects in the book, along with the corresponding page numbers. Indexes may provide names, dates, events, geographic locations, and other terms related to the contents of the book. Browsing an index is an excellent way to identify exactly where in the book relevant information may be located. An index can also provide subject terms and keywords that might be useful for further research on a topic. |
| From Cayuga Community College Library's "How to Use Books for Research" guide. | |
Monograph Book - All chapters written by the same author/s
Clean and white : A History of Environmental Racism in the United States by
When Joe Biden attempted to compliment Barack Obama by calling him "clean and articulate," he unwittingly tapped into one of the most destructive racial stereotypes in American history. This book tells the history of the corrosive idea that whites are clean and those who are not white are dirty. From the age of Thomas Jefferson to the Memphis Public Workers strike of 1968 through the present day, ideas about race and waste have shaped where people have lived, where people have worked, and how American society's wastes have been managed. Clean and White offers a history of environmental racism in the United States focusing on constructions of race and hygiene. In the wake of the civil war, as the nation encountered emancipation, mass immigration, and the growth of an urbanized society, Americans began to conflate the ideas of race and waste. Certain immigrant groups took on waste management labor, such as Jews and scrap metal recycling, fostering connections between the socially marginalized and refuse. Ethnic "purity" was tied to pure cleanliness, and hygiene became a central aspect of white identity. Carl A. Zimring here draws on historical evidence from statesmen, scholars, sanitarians, novelists, activists, advertisements, and the United States Census of Population to reveal changing constructions of environmental racism. The material consequences of these attitudes endured and expanded through the twentieth century, shaping waste management systems and environmental inequalities that endure into the twenty-first century. Today, the bigoted idea that non-whites are "dirty" remains deeply ingrained in the national psyche, continuing to shape social and environmental inequalities in the age of Obama.
Anthology - Each chapter written by a different author/s & gathered into a book by an editor or editors
Just Sustainabilities: Development in an Unequal World by
Environmental activists and academics alike are realizing that a sustainable society must be a just one. Environmental degradation is almost always linked to questions of human equality and quality of life. Throughout the world, those segments of the population that have the least political power and are the most marginalized are selectively victimized by environmental crises. This book argues that social and environmental justice within and between nations should be an integral part of the policies and agreements that promote sustainable development. The book addresses the links between environmental quality and human equality and between sustainability and environmental justice.