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Use OneSearch to search for books, eBooks, articles (from magazines, newspapers, and journals), streaming videos, DVDs, CDs, images, and more, all in a single search. OneSearch cross searches most CCSF Library Databases at the same time. OneSearch can be accessed from the Library website! Want to see how it works? Check out our video demo.
Provides precise definitions of terms and concepts in literary theory, along with explanations of the major movements and figures in literary and cultural theory and an extensive bibliography.
This wide-ranging introduction helps students to explore essential questions in the study of literature, criticism and theory.
A collection preserving the legacy of one of the Harlem Renaissance's greatest writers.
This classic work covers all of the major movements in literary studies in this century -- an introduction of choice for anyone interested in learning about the world of contemporary literary thought.
Guide to the major theories and theorists, including: humanism; structuralism; poststructuralism; psychoanalytic approaches; feminist approaches; queer theory; ideology and discourse; new historicism; race and postcolonialism; postmodernism.
An electrifying new study that investigates the challenges of the Bard's inconsistencies and flaws, and focuses on revealing--not resolving--the ambiguities of the plays and their changing topicality.
Email reference is available Monday through Friday during the Fall and Spring semesters. We try to respond within two days.
Chat with the library 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to meet with a librarian for in-depth help with your research.
| How to Find Ebooks | How to Find Print Books |
|---|---|
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To find ebooks:
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To find print books:
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When it comes to searching for your topic, you want to succinctly combine the parts of your topic as distinct keywords in OneSaerch. For example, if your topic is women in the book Sula, you might search for:
| Options | Search Strings* | Interpretation |
| 1: | women AND Sula | Maybe there will be an item with your exact topic words! |
| 2: | female AND Sula | Maybe it will be listed as female instead! |
| 1 + 2: | (women OR female) AND Sula | This search allows for both! |
| 3: | (women or female) AND "Toni Morrison" | If there are no books that are obviously about Sula, perhaps one on women in Morrison's** work will do! |
The CCSF community has access to more than 242,000 ebooks and evideos via our O'Reilly and EBSCO eBook subscriptions.
A multidisciplinary library of over 201,000 high-quality e-books.
eBooks & eVideos on technology, digital media, math and science, engineering and business.Take your topic and think how you will turn it into search terms. If your research question is "What is the historical context of Florida in the time period represented in Their Eyes Were Watching God?" the most essential elements to find are history, Florida, and the book title. It can help to brainstorm alternatives to the words IN your research question, because different words will surface different results in your search.
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Keyword |
historical context | Florida | "Their Eyes Were Watching God" |
|---|---|---|---|
| Synonyms |
early 1900s 1920s and culture |
Eatonville Jacksonville Everglades Okeechobee
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"Zora Neale Hurston" |
Note: the quotation marks around some search terms help tell the search engine that you want results with the words stuck together exactly as you have them.
Combining three of my search concepts, a sample Google search is shown below.
When your instructor says you need to include sources, they probably mean that the source should:
**A helpful list from Professor Leila Easa**
Databases are owned by a few different companies, and the library pays for access to make relevant sources available for your research. The journals in these databases are rarely available for free on the open web. Journals can be scholarly, which means they are academic in nature and may be peer-reviewed. Peer-reviewed articles go through a rigorous publishing process: they are written by an academic, submitted to the journal, and then circulated to experts in the field for checking before being published.
Databases are owned by a few different companies, and the library pays for access to make relevant sources available for your research. The journals in these databases are rarely available for free on the open web. Journals can be scholarly, which means they are academic in nature and may be peer-reviewed. Peer-reviewed articles go through a rigorous publishing process: they are written by an academic, submitted to the journal, and then circulated to experts in the field for checking before being published.
On the left side of the screen find the Filter My Results options--Check "Available Online" under "Availability" and "Books" under "Resource Type." 
On the left side of the screen find the Filter My Results options--Check "Available on Campus" under "Availability" and "Books" under "Resource Type."