Beginning Your Research The following steps offer suggestions for improving your research 1. What information do you need to find? This may seem like an obvious first step, but too often inadequate consideration is given to the research topic. Topics are often too broad, too narrow, or not adequately focused. To avoid this problem, check the indexes in card catalogs, magazine databases, or encyclopedias for topic ideas and to narrow or expand your search. More time spent deciding on a subject might save many hours in the process. Resources: eCard Catalog | World Cat | ProQuest Library | Encyclopaedia Britannica 2. What do you know about your topic? You may already have some basic information from class notes or books or magazines. Finding background information in encyclopedias or textbooks may be useful and is easily found in print and online sources. Checking the tables of contents and indexes in textbooks and encyclopedias is often useful in structuring your knowledge, finding related topics, and deciding upon keywords. Resources: Search the indexes in the resources listed in #1. Informine contains a browsable keyword and subject list of schorarly Internet resources. eReference Bookshelf lists online books that can be consulted for background information. 3. What information should be used? Libraries provide access to many information sources, but you will need to decide what will work best for you. Will you be using books, journals, or online materials? Do you need pictures, audio files, or other media to complete your paper? Printed books are still the most useful for many areas, history or art for example, as they are easily transportable and can be read without equipment. Even technical and specialized books that are not in our collection can usually easily be obtained through interlibrary loan. However, if current, obscure, reference, or periodical information is needed, online databases may be your best source. Resources: The eCard Catalog and WorldCat are guides to books on your topic. Periodical databases contain thousands of magazines titles available online. NetLibrary has thousands of books that can be read online. 4. Can't I find all of the information I need on the Internet? The Internet is a convenient source of information but copyrighted materials are rarely available online for free. Publishers restrict their information by requiring subscriptions or charging fees for access. This limits the quality of information that is freely available. Libraries mitigate these limitations by purchasing ebooks and online magazines that provide the same quality content found in the printed versions. Resources: Fraud, Scams and Misinformation on the Web Evaluating Internet Resources contains helpful tips for judging the quality of Web sites. Research Using the Internet discusses some of the problems with using Internet resources. See the Internet Page for more information. 5. How do I locate the information I need? Three main tools--catalogs, indexes, and search engines--are used for most research. With the exception of the indexes found in the back of books, these all require a few online research skills and a little knowledge about the database being searched. How you define, evaluate, and refine key words often determines the quality of your results. Trial and error is sometimes required but most of these tools allow you to search their indexes or thesauri to look for better search terms. You also usually have options to limit your results by date, type of document, or other parameters. Remember that even the largest databases contain only a small part of the total knowledge available on the Web. More information can be found on the links listed below. Resources: How to Find Books How to Find Magazines Using Interlibrary Loan Enter a topic in Research Wizard and a list of library and Internet resources will be generated. Help pages at ProQuest, Wilson, and other databases offer tips for more efficient searching. 6. Is your information reliable and of good quality? You will need to critically evaluate the information you have. The credentials of the author and publisher should be evaluated and the copyright date checked on print or online resources. The absence of an author's or publisher's name, especially for online sources, often means the source is of low quality. Check the URL of the online site you want to use. If it ends in .edu or .gov, the information is from a college or government source and may be of higher quality than other free sites. Resources: Critically Analyzing Information Sources Evaluating Sources for a Research Paper 7. Additional Resources on Library Research Research Strategy by Colorado State University Libraries Guide to Library Research at Cornell by Olin and Uris Libraries Research 101 Very good online tutoral by University of Washington Libraries