Learning to use the library at college can seem overwhelming! We're here to help. Click the link below to open th "Tutorials" guide to learn how to search the catalog, ejournals, and databases to location information. Other tutorials on the guide are for how to use services such a interlibrary loan, specific databases, or conduct research in health sciences and business courses. Check out all there is to know!
TUTORIALS
Writing in college follows established academic / scholarly writing styles. You've probably used MLA or APA in high school or other courses. These are just two of many used in academic and professional fields. Learn the style that you will most likely use in your career (e.g., nursing, education, and many social sciences follow APA). Knowing how to write and cite properly will help you stand out in a crowded field of job applicants. Use this guide to get more help, or ask for more assistance.
CITATIONS & STYLE GUIDE
An academic library is very similar to the public or high school library you may have used. However, we organize our books a bit differently. Public and school libraries use the Dewey Decimal System but college libraries use the Library of Congress (LC) system. Both systems are easy to use if you just think of the "call number" as the address where the item lives in its neighborhood on the shelves. The research guide linked below provides information about all the subject listings and classifications. You should be familiar with the general area the books for your academic major are kept if you ever want to shelf browse. For example, engineers generally need to use the "T"s on Level 5 of Coe, whereas business majors will find most of their books on Level 2. Hit the stacks and discover how much information is available to you!
BROWSING THE LIBRARY: This library guide provides information about the Library of Congress (LC) classification system
eBooks are over one-third of the available books at UW Libraries (almost a million ebooks at last count!). We get books from numerous publishers and vendors, so the user interface will vary depending on the subject. One general rule about accessing ebooks is to use the "Classic Catalog" to find the ebook, then click on the yellow "View full text" button. On the next page that appears, select the ebook. Some ebooks allow full access and download. Other books only allow one to a few users at one time and no download. It just varies. Most of the publisher's websites have Help or Tutorials on how to use the system. The following link is to our guide on the academic and popular reading ebooks that provides a general overview. If you have problems accessing or using an ebook, we're glad to help you.
eBOOKS & eAUDIOBOOKS
The "Finding" subject listing on the Research Guides page is a useful place to look for random guides such as Newspapers, Magazines, Alumni Services, Genealogy, and other research areas. The library guides may be searched by keyword to locate relevant guides. And of course, friendly librarians are prepared to assist you.
LIST of ALL RESEARCH GUIDES by SUBJECT