How to Use Google Books for Research

Google Books is an excellent resource for students and researchers alike. With millions of books available for searching and previewing, Google Books provides access to a wide range of information. In this article, we’ll provide an overview of how to use Google Books for research and how to create collections of books to share with others.

To get started, simply navigate to books.google.com. While signing into a Google account is not necessary to use most of the features on Google Books, there are benefits to signing in, which we’ll discuss later. Start by conducting a search for a topic of interest, such as “The War of 1812.” This will bring up a list of books related to your search.

By default, you’ll see books with any view, meaning some may only show a title or cover page, while others will have a portion or the entire book available for preview. You can refine your search to only show books with a preview or full view, with the latter allowing you to see the entire book. You can also refine by publication type, such as books, magazines, or newspapers, as well as by publication date.

Once you find a book of interest, click on it to open it in a new tab. From here, you can search inside the book for specific keywords or phrases, such as “New Orleans.” You can also use the “More actions” menu to share a clip of the book, download the entire book as a PDF or EPUB, find the book in a library, or add the book to your personal library.

If you’re signed into a Google account, you can add the book to your library and organize it into different shelves, such as “War of 1812 Books” or “Books to Share with My Students.” You can also create new shelves and choose whether to make them public or private.

While previewing a book with full view, you may have access to additional features such as the ability to clip sections of the book, copy information for citations, or embed the book into a website or blog post.

In conclusion, Google Books is a valuable resource for researchers and students alike. With the ability to search and preview millions of books, as well as create collections to share with others, Google Books can help you find the information you need for your research projects.