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How to Use Citations to Find More Sources

How to find articles, books, and other sources when you have citation information (author, article title, journal title, date, etc.)

Quick Guide on How to Find a Book

Identifying and locating books with a citation can be a simple process.


1. Go to the Library Catalog.
  • You can search for books using as much or as little information as you have.
2. Search the catalog and find the book that matches the citation information.
  • If you have the title or the author of the book, try to use those by doing a title and/or author search. It can be sometimes helpful to search for both the title and author, especially if the title is something general like Health Education. If you can't remember the full title, try to search using as much information as you can remember using a title search.
  • Scan your results to identify the book that looks like it matches the citation information.
  • Remember that the first few results of a search may not be the correct one. Keep scrolling down until you find what you are looking for.

 

3. Get the book(s).
  • Write down the whole call number (which is like the "address" of the book).
  • Go to the section of the library that has the books with the call numbers you've written down. Not sure where to go? Stop by the Reference desk for directions.

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