It’s not always obvious how to get started or carry out your research. We have a few strategies to help you below, but let’s get started with some tips from our librarians:
“Research, reading, and writing are not separate activities that you complete in a linear fashion, one following the other in sequence. Instead, they should be interweaved and iterative, each part of the process informing all other parts.”
Brian Mikesell
Library Director
“Don’t be confined by books and articles in the early stages of your research! Social media accounts, YouTube videos, and podcasts can provide valuable context that may deepen your understanding of the topic.”
Erin Donahue
ECRI Program Associate
“The best research is alchemical: rather than searching for sources simply to report their findings, seek out items that you can use as interlocutors. For example, identify a text that demonstrates a mode of analysis that you then apply to the data provided by another source.”
William McHenry
Collections Librarian
“Do research to develop your ideas, not just to prove your point.”
KellyAnne McGuire
Outreach Librarian
“Cultivate curiosity, ask questions continuously, and be flexible.”
Dana Cummings
Coordinator of Electronic Resources
Whether you’re a novice researcher or a senior starting your thesis, this series of worksheets will help step you through the basic research process:
The first step of any research project is to understand the assignment. If this isn’t done, you’ll often travel down dead-end paths, wasting time along the way. Make sure you know the parameters:
Once you have the answers to these questions, you can get started on selecting a topic. Brainstorming can be a successful way to get some ideas down on paper. Seeing one’s ideas in writing is often an impetus for the writing process. Though brainstorming is particularly effective when a topic has been chosen, it can also be a way to help narrow — or in some cases, broaden — a topic. Make it a timed writing session and jot down in list or bulleted form any ideas that come to mind. At the end of the timed period, peruse your list for patterns. If it appears that something is standing out in your mind, pursue this as a topic possibility.
Keep in mind that an initial topic may not be the exact topic about which you end up writing. Research topics are often fluid, and dictated more by your ongoing research than by the original topic. Such fluidity is common in research, and should be embraced as one of its many characteristics.
Start your research by collecting background information on your subject. A good way to do this is by using tertiary resources. A tertiary source compiles and presents concise, factual information on a collection of topics in one place. One essential quality of these sources is that they are generally consulted briefly for a particular entry, not read through from beginning to end. Entries are usually organized alphabetically for easy look-up. Encyclopedias, dictionaries, and atlases are all examples.
Tertiary sources are particularly good places to begin your research, because they’ll give you a basic grounding in the topic and an understanding of the larger context, so that you can intelligently pursue more in-depth sources of information. Background information might include an overview of the topic, educate you about subject-specific terminology, and give you ideas about how to focus your research.
Start with a general resource, like Britannica Reference . Then find more discipline- or subject-specific sources.
Tertiary sources are a specialized type of source used as a part of your research process. Most often, tertiary sources won’t appear in your list of works cited, because they’re used so early in the research process. They’re starting places that help lead you to the sources you’ll eventually quote and cite in your papers.
When presenting your ideas, it’s always a good idea to acknowledge difference of opinion and discuss those differences as a part of your writing. Keep this in mind as you do research, looking not only for information that agrees with you, but also that which does not. Sometimes you may want to specifically investigate different points of view on an issue. This worksheet will help you structure that process:
These are research resources where you can look for information on topics with current social and political relevance. The information is presented primarily in a pro/con format.
One search box to rule them all! This helpful tool searches across our licensed electronic resources, the library catalog, and more. Watch a short video showing you the features and functionality of Search Everything:
You can use the library’s electronic resources from anywhere — here’s how!
Most of the library’s databases give you the option to download full text yourself. Science Direct is the exception. Learn how to get full text documents from Science Direct.
A great tool for your research is the bibliography in a scholarly book, article, or tertiary source. When you find a great book or article on your topic, you can use their references for more sources! The only problem is, you may come up with a citation that’s perfect, but how do you get a copy of the item? Your first stop is to see whether the library has it, of course!