Scholar is a catalog of items owned by the Cleveland State Libraries. Use Scholar to find books, videos, audio recordings, journals, magazines, and more.  Your search will include materials in both hard-copy print and virtual electronic formats. 

Scholar Advanced Search provides additional limiters for refining your result list.

If you find references for books that are not available in Scholar or OhioLINK, you can try to get them through Interlibrary Loan. 

Note: Interlibrary Loan may take a little longer, so start early.

When determining whether a book is scholarly consider:

• Publisher: Check the publisher's website. Is the publisher a University Press (e.g. Oxford University Press, Purdue University Press)? Does the publisher specialize in this academic field?
   
• Bias: Does the publisher have a religious or political affiliation? Consider how this affiliation might affect the scholarship and/or content of the book.
   
• Authority: Who is the author? Do they have credentials that give them authority on the subject? Are they recognized by other scholars in the field?
   
• Cited Sources: Scholarly books have cited references or a bibliography. Consider the quality of the sources: look for inclusion of journal articles, primary sources, and other scholarly books by experts in the field.
   
• Content: Consider accuracy, bias, audience appropriateness, graphics/charts/illustrations. Look for books that have clear structure and organization, such as a preface, introduction, table of contents, conclusion, and index. 

Still not sure? Look for book reviews of the book and see what reviewers say about its content.