Learn to Find, Access, and Manage Information

Ask a Librarian

More about Instruction…

Find a book on your topic
  1. Use MadCat's Advanced Search to find books on your topic.
  2. In the Search For box(es), type the key concept(s) you are looking for.
    • One concept per box.
      • If it's a single-word concept (like "genetics"), leave the adjacent drop-down menu set to all of these.
      • If it's a concept with multiple words (like "global warming"), select as a phrase.
  3. Leave the Search By box set to Keywords Anywhere.
  4. Click Search.
  5. Click the titles of items in the result list that fit your topic best.
    • To help you choose, consider the following:
      • Title of item: does it seem relevant to your topic?
      • Name of author: is it someone in the field you recognize?
      • Date of publication: how current is the book? (A book about medicine from the 1970s will be way out of date!)
    • To find more books like this one,
      • Click the book's title to open the record.
      • Scroll down to the heading Subjects.
      • Click a subject that is relevant to your topic. A list of similar subjects displays.
      • Click the one you're interested in to see all the books at UW Madison related to that subject.
  6. Write down the book's location and call number.
    • You'll need both to find it on the shelf!
  7. Go to the appropriate library and pick up the book.
    • To find the library's location, click the Where is this Location? link.
    • To find your call number on the shelves, ask a librarian for help or find a stack guide when you arrive.

See also:

<< Return to research steps

Concept
A word or phrase that describes the content of a book or an article (aka: Keyword).
Keyword
A significant word or phrase in the title, subject headings, contents note, abstract, or text of a record in an online catalog or bibliographic database that can be used as a search term to retrieve all the records containing it. (ODLIS)
Record
An entry representing a specific item in a library catalog or bibliographic database, containing all the data elements necessary for a full description, presented in a specific bibliographic format (aka: Bibliographic record). (ODLIS)

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