HOW TO GATHER INFORMATION*

Learning to research topics is a valuable skill.

Before you begin, you need to know more about the parts of a book and what kinds of information you can find in each. Books obviously have a front and back cover. The part of the book that you see as it sits on the shelf is called the spine. The first printed page is the title page, which presents

the book’s title,

the author’s name,

the publisher’s name,

the cities in which it is published

the edition (the larger the number the more recently the book has been updated).

Some books have subtitles, like From Sight to Insight: Stages in the Writing Process, a textbook on how to write effectively. The title is not very helpful in deciding what the book is about, but the subtitle, Stages in the Writing Process, shows it clearly. The back of the title page carries the date of publication and the International Standard Book Number (ISBN). If you want to order a book from the bookstore, the ISBN will make it easier to identify the book you want. Many books next contain a preface or forward which is a short note or essay written by the author or editor about the subject, purpose, or plan used in the book. The table of contents comes next and lists section and/or chapter titles along with the appropriate page number.