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Ebooks

Everything you need to know about Waggoner eBook collections.

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Waggoner Library eBook Research Guide

What are Ebooks?

An ebook, also known as an electronic book or digital book, is a book that exists in electronic form, whether it started as a print book or not. Trevecca has access to over 200,000 ebooks, and almost all are in the library's catalog. You can read TNU's Ebooks on many devices, including computers, laptops, iPads, tablets, e-readers, and smartphones. This guide contains links and information for various library and Internet Ebook collections:

  • Ebooks provided by Waggoner Library are available to faculty, students, and staff on and off campus. See more about the two largest collections below - ProQuest Ebook Central and EBSCO eBook Collection.
  • Internet ebook libraries like Project Gutenberg are free ook collections available anywhere.

Book/ebook reference citations are covered in Section 10.2 of the APA Publication Manual, Seventh Edition.

Ebooks as Textbooks

If one of your textbooks is noted on a syllabus as an ebook found in the library, they are discoverable by searching the title or by the author's name in the library catalog (Discovery search).

Two main eBook collections are ProQuest Ebook Central and EBSCO (linked below). Both have options to read the book online, check it out, or create PDFs of selected chapters or page ranges. Use the pages on the left menu for specific how-to information from each collection regarding downloading and creating PDF chapters.

Contact Waggoner Library if you have questions or need assistance.

Copyright and ebooks

As nice as ebooks are, they are not perfect. Restrictions exist. Copyright and Digital Rights Management (DRM) limits how ebooks can be accessed and downloaded. This guide will take you through the process of viewing ebooks here at Trevecca and how to access and download ebooks using various devices (e.g., laptops, tablets, Kindle). It will also identify the restrictions you likely will encounter and the best way to manage those problems.

Finding eBooks in the Library

ebooks can be located by:

  • Searching the library Discovery Search. 
  • Go directly to one of our ebook databases. The main ebook databases are ProQuest Ebook Central and  EBSCO eBook Collection (linked below). 

Starting with Discovery Search, the video below illustrates how to construct your Discovery Search to limit results to ebooks.

The links below take you directly into our two primary ebook databases, EBSCO eBook Collection and ProQuest Ebook Central, where you can search for an ebook by title, author, or subject. 

Library ebook Collections

All Waggoner ebook collections are accessed through the Discovery Search on the library website, where titles are integrated into the search results. TNU authentication is required to view ebooks off-campus. Each ebook collection has its own procedures for viewing, checking out, and downloading the ebook content. View the specific collection page on the left menu for detailed information. Below are links to search each collection separately. 

Citing eBooks

APA 7 - from the APA Style Blog

  • Use the SAME formats for both print and ebook-edited book chapters.
  • The format, platform, or device (e.g., Kindle) for ebook chapters is NOT included in the reference.
  • Do NOT create references for chapters of authored books. Instead, write a reference for the WHOLE-authored book and cite the chapter in the text if desired.

Authored eBook

Citation examples from the APA Style Blog

Do's and Don'ts from the APA Style Blog

  • Provide the author, year of publication, title, and book publisher. Use the same format for both print books and ebooks.
  • Use the copyright date shown on the book's copyright page as the year of publication in the reference, even if the copyright date is different than the release date.
  • Include any edition information in parentheses after the title, without italics.
  • If the book includes a DOI, include the DOI in the reference after the publisher's name.
  • Do Not include the publisher's location.
  • If the ebook without a DOI has a stable URL that will link correctly for readers, include the URL of the book in the reference (as in the Svendsen and Løber example, which is from the iBog database, where ebooks are referred to as "internetbooks").
  • Do NOT include the name of the database in the reference.
  • If the ebook is from an academic research database (e.g., Business Source Ultimate) and has no DOI or stable URL, end the book reference after the publisher name. Do not include the name of the database in the reference. The reference, in this case, is the same as for a print book.

Chapter in an Edited Book

Citation Examples - from the APA Style Blog

Do's and Don'ts - from the APA Style Blog

 

  • Use this format for print and ebook edited book chapters, including edited book chapters from academic research databases.
  • If the chapter has a DOI, include the chapter DOI in the reference after the publisher's name.
  • Do NOT include the publisher's location.
  • If a chapter without a DOI has a stable URL that will resolve for readers, include the URL of the chapter in the reference (as in the Thestrup example, which is from the iBog database). Do NOT include the name of the database in the reference.
  • If the chapter is from an academic research database (e.g., Academic Search Ultimate) AND has no DOI or stable URL, end the book reference after the publisher's name. Do not include the name of the database in the reference. The reference, in this case, is the same as for a print book chapter.
  • Include any edition information in the same parentheses as the page range of the chapter, separated with a comma.
  • For ebook chapters without pagination, omit the page range from the reference (as in the Thestrup example).
  • Note: Be sure you double-check for page numbers. Do NOT use only the citation generator as your citation.
  • Always review for APA formatting. 

 

ProQuest eBook Central Collection

About Chapter PDFs

Downloading chapter PDFs or page ranges of an ebook is the best way to optimize its use. By not checking out (downloading) the full ebook, you are allowing the ebook to continue to be available for everyone. 

Download instructions are available here:

EBSCO eBook Collection

About Chapter PDFs

Depending on publisher-specified limits, up to 100 pages of an EBSCO eBook can be printed, saved, or emailed as a PDF file (per user) from within the eBook viewer to be printed later.

Notes:

  • Some titles may not allow for printing due to individual publisher-specified limits.
  • The number of pages may vary depending on individual publisher-specified limits.
  • The option to print or save ebook pages will be temporarily unavailable if you have reached your printing limit.

Open the link below to learn how to save, print, or email EBSCO eBook Chapters.

To see how the download process works in the EBSCO eBook Collection, watch the video below. (4min. 42sec).