Finding Books
The library catalog has print books, as well as ebooks, print and electronic journals, videos, and streaming videos. You can find this content by searching our catalog, POLAR. Learn how to search POLAR in the video below.
If you don't find what you need in POLAR, you can try the OhioLINK catalog for books and media. OhioLINK is a consortium of almost all of the academic libraries in Ohio, so it offers access to a huge number of resources.
Relevant books to this course:
- Virtues and their vices / edited by Kevin Timpe and Craig A. Boyd (ebook)
- Glittering vices : a new look at the seven deadly sins and their remedies / Rebecca Konyndyk DeYoung (print book)
Search the Catalogs
- Library Catalog (POLAR) This link opens in a new windowCatalog of the holdings of Heterick Memorial Library and Taggart Law Library.
- OhioLINK Central Catalog This link opens in a new windowCatalog of the holdings of OhioLINK member libraries.
What is a wildcard search?
The wildcard is an advanced search technique that can be used to maximize your search results in library databases. Wildcards are used in search terms to represent one or more other characters.
The two most commonly used wildcards in our library databases are:
- An asterisk (*) may be used to specify any number of characters. It is typically used at the end of a root word, when it is referred to as "truncation." This is great when you want to search for variable endings of a root word.
- For example: searching for educat* would tell the database to look for all possible endings to that root. Results will include educate, educated, education, educational or educator.
- For example: searching for educat* would tell the database to look for all possible endings to that root. Results will include educate, educated, education, educational or educator.
- A question mark (?) may be used to represent a single character, anywhere in the word. It is most useful when there are variable spellings for a word, and you want to search for all variants at once.
- For example, searching for colo?r would return both color and colour.
Each of the library's databases (and internet search engines) use the wildcard differently. To find out what works in your favorite database, look for the "help" link (usually along the top of the screen).
The power of a wildcard search
Our library catalog does not automatically include the plural vs singular results for a word. "Moral virtue" = 711 results in the library catalog, "moral virtues" = 337, and a wildcard search of "moral virtue*" = 910!