Research Guides: HIST 150: Inquisition (Fall 2025): Finding Secondary Sources: Books

When to use books

Books aren't just long articles, they cover different types of questions. If your topic is still broad, like "what is life like for women in the Kashmir region?" the question is probably to broad for an article, but would be a perfect book-length topic.

Use our library catalog to find books and ebooks on your topic.

Library Catalog
to find books, video and audio recordings, government documents, journals titles, and many other resources available at College of William and Mary libraries. (Note: to find articles contained within journals, click on this guide's Journal Articles tab.)

General tips:

Stick with Keywords connected by AND.
Keep an eye open for Subjects.
Limit by publication date.
Limit to books and ebooks.

IMPORTANT NOTES: Sample search for Venice AND inquisition

be on the look-out for primary sources in your search
a search that works will in an article database will also work as a book search
Sometimes your topic will be a chapter in one of the books.

If you're really stuck

WorldCat
Materials held by thousands of libraries in the US and abroad. Books, websites, computer programs, films, slides, journals, magazines, papers, manuscripts, maps, musical scores, newspapers, sound recordings, videotapes, etc. Coverage: Before 1000BC-present.