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Introduction to Graduate Studies: Finding Books & Book Chapters

Welcome to Graduate School! This guide will help you get started as you begin your master's degree.

Books & Book Chapters: Research in Depth

Books are an excellent choice for in-depth information about a topic, as well as background, overviews, and history. 

Why talk about books and book chapters  separately? They're cited differently! Many scholarly books have different authors for every chapter, as many scholarly books are a collection of individual research essays or research papers.

Book chaptersare cited individually when different chapters in a book have different authors. This allows the actual author of the content to be listed first, rather than the editor of the book. 

Books with one author, or authors that wrote the whole book together, are cited in their entirety, no matter if you used one chapter or many chapters. 

Important note: when assignments ask for books, ebooks are always acceptable. The GCU Library's book collection focuses on ebooks so all students can access them, with over 195,000 ebook titles.

A scholarly book will:

  • Be written by an expert, scientist, or academic.
  • Be published by a scholarly or academic press.
  • May be a collection of research papers by several different authors.
  • Be written for an academic audience, not for the general public.

To locate a book chapter, you will need to search for an edited book with different authors for each chapter. You can locate books like this by adding 'edited' to your search:

  1. Enter your basic search term.
  2. On the results page, click Advanced Search.
  3. Add ' edited' to the second search box.
  4. Search.
    the advanced search provides two search boxes

Tips for Searching

  • Books tend to be on broader subjects.
  • If you don't find a book on your narrow topic, look for a broader one.
    • for example: prodigal sonis too narrow, search parablesinstead.

Search For Books

Search LopeCat, the GCU Library Catalog (opens in new tab).

Search for ebooks, print books, streaming media & more!

How to search...?

The most relevant results are found using the author's name using this format:

Rogers, Carl

Keep in mind, you may only have the first initial of the author. For example: Rogers, Carl may appear only as  Rogers, C.

To locate an exact title, enclose the title with a set of quotation marks as shown here:

"Casebook for a spiritual strategy in counseling and psychotherapy"

The most relevant results are found using this format:

psychotherapy OR therapy OR counseling
Or
"higher education" OR college OR university

Use multiple keywords to represent the same concept or try multiple combinations and alternatives!

For electronic books from  LopeCat, after you have entered your search terms,

click on " Online Book " under the " Format" on the left side menu options.

Citing Books & Book Chapters

Using the citation tool in Ebook Central

The cite book button is part of the navigation men

Make sure to select the format needed from the menu

the FORMAT menu has different citation styles

In Credo:

In Credo the citation tool is part of the tools menu

choose the style needed from the menu

In Books 24/7

the citation button is part of the header menu

Then choose the citation style you need. Choose Chicago for Turabian and then double check the format.

the format types are radio selects on the popup window

Double check the formatting, especially capitalization and italics.
Locating citation information in a book

Some ebooks and all print books do not have citation tools. You can locate citation information in the catalog or in the book itself. 

In a print book, the information will be on the title page and the copyright page, which is usually the page after the title page. Many may have multiple locations for the publisher, if so use the first listed. Many free online digital books will include scans of the title page as in this one from Project Gutenberg

free online books should have all the information needed at the start of the book

Entire Book:
  • Note that the title of the work is in italics and only the first word, the first word in the subtitle, and proper nouns and capitalized.

Formats:

Author, A. A. (year).  Title of work . Publisher.

Author, A. A. (year).  Title of work . http://www

Author, A. A. (year).  Title of work . https://doi.org/10.1234

Example:

Daresh, J. C. (2004).  Beginning the assistant principalship: A practical guide for new school administrators. Corwin.
Chapter in an edited Book:
  • Note that the citation includes the same information as used when citing an entire book, plus the chapter or entry title, the editors' names, and the chapter page numbers.
  • Only cite individual chapters if there are different authors for different chapters. If all chapters have the same author, cite the entire book.

Format:

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year). Title of chapter or entry. In A. A. Editor & B. B. Editor (Eds.),  Title of book  (pp. xxx–xxx). Publisher.

Example:

Haybron, D. M. (2008). Philosophy and the science of subjective well-being. In M. Eid & R. J. Larsen (Eds.),  The science of subjective well-being  (pp. 17–43). Guilford Press.
One Author, first edition

Format for Note:

Author’s First and Last Name,  Title of Book  (Place of Publication: Name of Publisher, year of publication), page(s) cited.

Format for Bibliography Entry:

Author’s Last Name, First Name.  Title of Book . Place of Publication: Name of Publisher, year of publication.

[*Note: If editor or translator is listed on the title page, use that name in the author slot, followed by ed. or trans.]

Sample Note

1. A.W. Tozer,  The Pursuit of God: The Human Thirst for the Divine  (Camp Hill, PA: Wind Spread, 2006), 60.
2. Tozer,  The Pursuit,  6 1.
3. Tozer, 61.

Sample Bibliography Entry

Tozer, A.W.  The Pursuit of God: The Human Thirst for the Divine.  Camp Hill, PA: Wind Spread, 2006.

One Author, later edition

Format for Note:

Author’s First and Last Name,  Title of Book,  edition # ed. (Place of Publication: Name of Publisher, year of publication), page(s) cited.

Format for Bibliography Entry:

Author’s Last Name, First Name.  Title of Book.  edition # ed. Place of Publication: Name of Publisher, year of publication.

[*Note: If editor or translator is listed on the title page, use that name in the author slot, followed by ed. or trans.]

Sample Note

1. Kate L. Turabian,   A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations: Chicago Style for Students and Researchers,  8th ed.  (Chicago:University of Chicago Press, 2013), 172.
2. Turabian,   A Manual,  173.
2. Turabian, 173.

Sample Bibliography

Turabian, Kate L.  A Manual for Writers of Research Papers,Theses, and Dissertations: Chicago Style for Students and Researchers.  8th ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2013.

Two to Three Authors

Format for Note:

Authors’ First and Last Names,  Title of Book  (Place of Publication: Name of Publisher, year of publication), page(s) cited.

Format for Bibliography Entry:

First Author’s Last, First Name, Second Author’s First and Last Name.  Title of Book . Place of Publication: Name of Publisher, year of publication.

Sample Note

1. Arthur F Glasser, Charles Van Engen and Dean S. Gilliland,  Announcing the Kingdom: The Story of God's Mission in the Bible  (Michigan: Baker Academic, 2003), 52.
2. Glasser, Engen, and Gilliland,  Announcing the Kingdom , 53.
3. Glasser, Engen, and Gilliland, 53.

Sample Bibliography Entry

Glasser, Arthur F., Charles E. Van Engen, and Dean S. Gilliland,  Announcing the Kingdom: The Story of God's Mission in the Bible . Michigan: Baker Academic, 2003.

Four or More Authors

Format for Note:

First Author’s First and Last Name, et al.,  Title of Book  (Place of Publication: Name of Publisher, year of publication), page(s) cited.

Format for Bibliography Entry:

First Author’s Last, First Name, Other Author’s First and Last Name.  Title of Book . Place of Publication: Name of Publisher, year of publication

Sample Note

1. Bernard B. Scott et al.,  Reading New Testament Greek  (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1993), 50.
2. Scott et al.,  Reading,  51.
3. Scott et al., 51.

Sample Bibliography Entry

Scott, Bernard B., Margaret Dean, Kristen Sparks, and Frances LaZar.  Reading New Testament Greek.  Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1993.
Chapter in an Edited Book

Format for Note:

Chapter Author’s First and Last Name, “Title of Chapter,”  Title of Book,  ed. First and Last Names of editor(s) (Place of Publication: Name of Publisher, year of publication), page(s) cited.

Format for Bibliography Entry:

Chapter Author’s Last, First Name. "Title of Chapter." In  Title of Book,  edited by Editor’s First and Last Name, Inclusive page numbers. Place Publication: Name of Publisher, year of publication.

Sample Note

1. Kenneth R. Calvert, “Why Educate? A Return to the Classical Christian Model,” in  Christianity, Education, and Modern Society,  ed. William Jeynes Enedina Martinez (Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing, 2007), 68.
2. Calvert, “Why Educate? 68.
3. Calvert, 68.

Sample Bibliography Entry

Calvert, Kenneth R. “Why Educate? A Return to the Classical Christian Model,” in  Christianity, Education, and Modern Society , edited by William Jeynes and Enedina Martinez, 67-89. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing, 2007.
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