Sample Search – Finding an eBook
Your challenge: You know you're procrastinating, and you know Brian Tracy's famous book, Eat That Frog! has the answers. Your mission is to find the eBook in Logan Library’s digital collections and then immediately apply one of its core strategies to your academic life.
Start the Search: Go to the Logan Library's Homepage and find the main search bar under “Search All Library Resources.” This is the library’s Ebsco Discovery Service (EDS) which allows you to search many of the library’s resources.
The Keyword Search: In the search bar, enter the title and author as search terms combined with the Boolean AND.
"Eat That Frog" AND Brian Tracy (Using quotation marks around the title forces the catalog to find the exact phrase, not just the separate words.)
Filter for Format: Once the results appear, use the limiters or refine options at the top of the screen to narrow your search to the eBook and then select Apply.
Identify the Edition: The book has many editions (2001, 2017, 2020, etc.). Look at the results and identify the most recent edition available as an eBook.
Success! The eBook is available. You can access the full-text of this eBook by clicking on the title link to pull up the detailed record. Then, under the Access Options drop-down menu, select PDF full text.
And guess what...you don’t have to actually eat a frog. Whew! The phrase "Eat That Frog!" comes from a famous quote, often attributed to the great American author Mark Twain.
The central idea is captured in this saying:
“If it's your job to eat a live frog, it’s best to do it first thing in the morning. And if it's your job to eat two frogs, it’s best to eat the biggest one first.” In the context of Brian Tracy's book on time management and productivity, this quote is translated into a simple, powerful metaphor: Your "frog" is your biggest, most important task—the one you are most likely to procrastinate on, but the one that will have the greatest positive impact on your life and academic results.
Immediate Academic Application
Identify your "A" tasks: These are tasks you must do, as they have serious consequences for not completing them (e.g., studying for a final, writing a major paper). These are your frogs.
Identify your "A-1" task: If you have multiple "A" tasks, choose the single most important and difficult one that will have the biggest positive impact on your academic life that day.
Eat That Frog First: Discipline yourself to begin work on your A-1 task first thing in the morning or at the start of your dedicated study block, and persist until it is 100% complete before moving on to anything else.