If you are looking for general reference books on the topic (and this works for other topics as well), one way to accomplish this is to go to our catalog (http://librarycatalog.uah.edu). Now, you have several lines boxes to enter search terms. Type "Civil Engineering" into the box which defaults to "Title". Or, change the first box, which defaults to "Word or Phrase" to "Title" and then search for civil engineering there. If you want just physical books, then change Type, down below, to BOOK.
Click search.
The reason this helps is because many general reference books on the topic will include the topic in their title, while a lot of the more in depth materials will include a much more specific title. It is not a perfect method to get just broad reference on a subject, but it does help.
