ENGL 01A Epstein-Corbin

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. 

Example

Watch the Video

"How Library Stuff Works: Scholarly Books" (2:29) by McMaster Libraries is licensed under CC BY 3.0

Knowing the different sections usually present in scholarly books can help you use books for research more efficiently. 

Anatomy of a Book

The list 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, & date of publication
• Table of contents
  • provides a list of the chapters with the corresponding page numbers
  • 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, forward, 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, etc.
  • a list of sources that were used to create the book or a list of additional sources on the topic
  • 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
  • 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
  • can also provide subject terms and keywords that might be useful for further research on a topic.

Watch the Video

"How to Read a Book for Research" (2:29) is by RIT Libraries