Books often provide an overview of a topic and allow you to gain knowledge about the bigger picture before moving on to the more specific information that you'll find in journal articles.
When you don't have a particular title in mind, try searching for some keywords about your research topic. Once you've found some relevant books, look at the subject headings for those books. You can use these subject headings to find similar books.
Library books at Brandeis are arranged by Library of Congress call number.
The Library of Congress call number system arranges items by subject. This means that you will be able to find books on similiar topics next to one another on the shelf. One call number can serve as the starting point to browse the shelves for more material.
More information about reading Library of Congress call numbers
If Brandeis does not a book on your topic, you can use WorldCat to search for books from other libraries and then request these books through Interlibrary Loan.
Once you have located your item in WorldCat, use the Interlibrary Loan Form in OneSearch to request it from another library.
Find out more about Interlibrary Loan, including detailed instructions on how to request books from other libraries.