17. if you've located three books on a topic you're researching for an essay, the first thing you should do on appraising any of these books is
a. inspect the book jacket for notes about the author.
b. scan the book from front to back.
c. study the table of contents.
d. examine the index.

Personally I would do: C and D.

They both give you a little information of what info will be covered in the book. If they have a lot of info of what you want to write about then they are keepers and if there is only a little info then you can still use them but if there isn't enough info to help you write a in-depth paper then ditch it or them and keep looking.  

Hopefully this helped and good luck. 

answer; i believe the correct and best answer is (a crime motivated by prejudice); ///good luck