Locate Books on Your Topic and Bring One Book to Class

The topic that I have chosen for my research is substance abuse with a specific focus on its subgroup of alcohol abuse.

When it comes to the topic of alcohol abuse, I think I will be looking for books with general information about alcohol abuse: is it common?, what are its characteristics?, who/whom does it affect the most?, and ect.  I am also very interested in finding out what it is that alcohol does to the body to alter ones personality and actions while on the substance (The psychological effects of alcohol consumption).

The search string I used when I got to the Miller Center Library page and had chosen the advanced search option was: Alcoholism (with search parameter of subject), in book format, which gave me 1666 results, and then on the right hand side I clicked the refine search option of alcohol—psychological effect, which limited the search options down to 107 of them.  But in this search string I was not able to find what it was I was looking for.  I think this was the case because I was too focused on trying to find information which was published within the last few years, which made finding a book very difficult.  So then I went back to the advanced search page to start a new string and typed in substance abuse AND alcoholism and got 372 results, and luckily one of the first books that appeared in the search was one I thought I could use Psychosocial Constructs of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse.

I have never before used an Ebook as a means for research before, but I suppose if I was able to find some sort of book that was not available in the library, as an EBook instead, I would be interested in reading an EBook.  I am a little leery though about what the possible online formatting of the EBook may look like, because it would seem like it could be very easy to lose your place while you’re reading (especially if you have to scroll down to read) and then it could take a lot of time having to back track and find where you were at if you lose your place.

When I looked for an EBook on advanced search with the search string Alcoholism, I found 234 results and chose Consequences of Alcoholism: Medical, Neuropsychiatric, Economic, Cross-cultural as an Ebook to read.  I was really surprised by how many Ebooks where offered on OPAC, since being able to read a full book online is such a foreign concept to me and I have never before done it.

I was pleasantly surprised while reading the EBook about my topic.  The online formatting of the pages in the book looked just like that of a regular book you would physically have in front of you (I had been worried that it would require constant scrolling down to reading the book and possibly losing your place because of that) I think it felt a little odd at first reading the EBook on the screen of my computer, because I am used to reading books at an angle, but I think I prefer being able to read them at the angle provided though the computer screen more than that of a traditional print book.

I do not have a mobile device which allows me to read an EBook on it, so I was not able to experience what that would be like (though for me I do not believe I would like how small it would be).

And when I went on the Great River Regional Library website to search for a book, I found it to be a little more confusing compared to the Miller Center Library OPAC. When I reached the advanced search page and typed in alcoholism, limiting the search parameters to subject keyword, and was going to select book as preferred format to find.  But on the type section it did not clearly list book as an option from what I could see. So that threw me off a little. So I had to sort through 326 results which included DVD’s and EBooks, and even then I was not able to find what I was looking for material wise. The Great River Regional site also did not give you options on the right hand side to help you limit down your topic, and I found that to be very helpful on the Miller Center website.  I found my experience with the Miller Center Library OPAC to be much more helpful for finding the types of books I was looking for than The Great River Regional Library catalog which was very confusing to navigate through.

I have never before used an Ebook as a means for research before, but I suppose if I was able to find some sort of book that was not available in the library, as an EBook instead, I would be interested in reading an EBook.  I am a little leery though about what the possible online formatting of the EBook may look like, because it would seem like it could be very easy to lose your place while you’re reading (especially if you have to scroll down to read) and then it could take a lot of time having to back track and find where you were at if you lose your place.

When I looked for an EBook on advanced search with the search string Alcoholism, I found 234 results and chose Consequences of Alcoholism: Medical, Neuropsychiatric, Economic, Cross-cultural as an Ebook to read.  I was really surprised by how many Ebooks where offered on OPAC, since being able to read a full book online is such a foreign concept to me and I have never before done it.

I was pleasantly surprised while reading the EBook about my topic.  The online formatting of the pages in the book looked just like that of a regular book you would physically have in front of you (I had been worried that it would require constant scrolling down to reading the book and possibly losing your place because of that) I think it felt a little odd at first reading the EBook on the screen of my computer, because I am used to reading books at an angle, but I think I prefer being able to read them at the angle provided though the computer screen more than that of a traditional print book.

I do not have a mobile device which allows me to read an EBook on it, so I was not able to experience what that would be like (though for me I do not believe I would like how small it would be).

And when I went on the Great River Regional Library website to search for a book, I found it to be a little more confusing compared to the Miller Center Library OPAC. When I reached the advanced search page and typed in alcoholism, limiting the search parameters to subject keyword, and was going to select book as preferred format to find.  But on the type section it did not clearly list book as an option from what I could see. So that threw me off a little. So I had to sort through 326 results which included DVD’s and EBooks, and even then I was not able to find what I was looking for material wise. The Great River Regional site also did not give you options on the right hand side to help you limit down your topic, and I found that to be very helpful on the Miller Center website.  I found my experience with the Miller Center Library OPAC to be much more helpful for finding the types of books I was looking for than The Great River Regional Library catalog which was very confusing to navigate through.