Scholarly books and book chapters are some of the best sources on history, literature, popular culture and cultural traditions and other humanities and social sciences based topics. For this reason, you will find records for books, book chapters, and dissertations as well as journal articles in many of the databases available to you at the Pollak Library and listed under Find Articles in this guide.
After you have determined the possible names (and alternate spellings) for your topic and other key terms, use the links to the right and below to explore for books and other materials on your topic.
Database of encyclopedias and specialized reference sources for multidisciplinary research. Provides searchable full-text e-book versions of over 3,500 reference works, including multi-volume encyclopedias, biographical collections, business plan handbooks, company history compilations, consumer health references, and specialized handbooks, dictionaries, encyclopedias, etc. in a wide range of subject areas. Includes Childhood Studies, Latin American Studies, Latino Studies, Psychology, Social Work and Sociology. The annotated bibliography with supporting explanations presents the preeminent research on these subjects. Editors are distinguished scholars in their field and resulting citations are highly recommended. Database accessible via Fulcrum website. E-books in the humanities, including history, literature, religion, art history, women's studies, area studies, political science and philosophy. Historical periods include most parts of the world and most time periods.Using OneSearch is easy but it can be a little tricky for doing research in many multidisciplinary subject areas including this one. Here are some tips to help you use it.
Use the ADVANCED SEARCH option found to the left of the OneSearch search box on the library homepage.
At the first opportunity, get in the habit of signing in. Signing in lets you see more options and allows you to request books, articles and other materials that the Pollak Library does not own from other CSUs and other libraries.* There are certain databases that will only be searched once you are logged in.**
OneSearch emphasizes full text. Abstract databases and Index databases -- SOME IMPORTANT DATABASES ARE IN THESE CATEGORIES -- can be excluded from your search results until you expand your results. Here is how to do this: Once you have done a search, look for a sentence below the search box that says: Didn't find what you are looking for? Click here to include Results from Other Libraries (This may seem misleading as you are actually getting more results from our library as well as those from other libraries. We may actually have access to the full-text in another database we own or we can request it from another library.)
Examine the other possible options in Refine my Results column to narrow your search.
If you are still having trouble come to the researchdesk or contact me at the email to the right.
*Including books that are checked out here at CSUF!
**Please note that not all of our databases are actually being searched by OneSearch. We are adding them as quickly as possible. If you go to the databases tab on the Pollak Library homepage and browse by Database Name, you can see which databases are being searched. They have the OneSearch symbol
Book Search works just like a Google web search. When Google finds a book with content that contains a match for your search terms, they'll link to it in your search results.
If the book is out of copyright, or the publisher has given Google permission, you'll be able to see a preview of the book, and in some cases the entire text. If it's in the public domain, you're free to download a PDF copy.
Contains over 1,000,000 digitized doctoral dissertations in the humanities and social sciences. It also contains master's theses, including 4,000+ from Cal State Fullerton students, 1967-present. Citations for dissertations from around the world from 1637. NOTE: Includes the theses of Fullerton graduate students who have published through UMI Dissertation Publishing.