ARHU 158I: How To Panic Productively

Books are one of the major ways that scholars share their research. It usually takes several years to write and publish an academic book. Some are written by one author, and others are edited volumes where each chapter is by a different author (similar to academic journal articles).

Use academic books to...

• Find overviews of theories, topics, audiences, people, and events.
• Learn how scholars apply rhetorical theories when evaluating different types of texts. 
• Use citations to find more sources on the same topic.

You typically won't need to read an entire academic book for your assignments! Use the table of contents to find the sections that are most relevant to your project.

Here's how to find print books and eBooks with UMD Discover on the Libraries' website:

1. Head to lib.umd.edu.
2. Search keywords related to your topic in the search box. Try using simple combinations of phrases, including concepts and theories, places, or people's names. Mix and match different keywords to see how that changes your results. Some examples:
   • black motherhood music
   • feminism "taylor swift"
   • critical rhetoric social movements
   • history of monuments united states
3. On the results page, click the Sign in link and log in with your regular UMD username and password.
4. Click a result for links to the item and more information about it.