LIBR 105: Source Types: Scholarly Books

Books are another important type of source for academic researchers. While we all know what a book looks like, there are some things you should know about this particular kind of book!

Identifying Scholarly Books

Scholarly books are often published by a university press (e.g. Oxford University Press, University of South Carolina Press). There are certain other publishers who publish scholarly books, as well (SpringerLink, Elsevier). Typically, publishers of popular books (such as HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, etc.) do not publish scholarly books, and vice versa. 

How do you know if a publisher is scholarly? 

If you are not familiar with a publisher and you can't tell by the name if it is scholarly, look them up online. There are a couple ways to do this:

• Find the publisher's official website and look for an About page or section. You should be able to determine what kinds of material they publish.
• Search for the publisher name + wikipedia. Unless the publisher is very small, there is usually a Wikipedia page that can provide insight into the publisher's mission.

Characteristics of Scholarly Books

• Typically several hundred pages long
• Include footnotes/references at the end of each chapter or at the end of the book
• Divided into distinct chapters, with a table of contents at the beginning
• Include an index of key terms at the end

Terms to Know

Monograph: A scholarly book that explores a single topic in depth. Monographs can have one author or several authors.

Edited Volume: A scholarly book where each chapter is written by a different author or authors, usually around a common theme. One person (or a few people) serves as an editor. The editor typically organizes the book, reviews chapter submissions, writes an introduction, and sometimes contributes a chapter, as well. 

Index: Many scholarly books include an index in the back. This is an alphabetical listing of important terms, people, and places mentioned in the book, along with the page numbers where those terms appear. 

Tip: If you are using an eBook, instead of using the index you can use Control + F (Command + F on a Mac) to quickly search the text for specific words and phrases you want to find. 

Footnotes/Endnotes: In-text citations in books may be in the form of footnotes (at the bottom of the page) or endnotes (at the end of a chapter or book). The full bibliography can be found at the end of each chapter (especially for edited volumes) or at the end of the book.

Citing Academic Books in APA

To cite a book in APA, you'll always need the following pieces of information:

• author or editor
• book title
• year of publication
• publisher name
• edition

You'll sometimes need these pieces, depending on the book and where you found it:

• edition (if there are multiple editions)
• library database (if it is an eBook)
• chapter title, author, and page numbers (when citing a specific chapter)

Finding Books in the Library

Watch the 8-minute video linked in OAKS (module 4) to learn more about finding books in the library's Discovery Service.