Research Tips

The following seven steps outline a simple and effective strategy for finding information for a research paper and documenting the sources you find. Depending on your topic and your familiarity with the Library, you may need to rearrange or recycle these steps. Adapt this outline to your needs.

1. Identify and Develop Your Topic

2. Find Background Information

3. Use Catalogs to Find Books

4. Use Indexes To Find Periodical Articles

5. Find Internet Resources

6. Evaluate What You Find

7. Cite What You Find Using A Standard Format

Research Tips

State your topic as a question. For example, if you are interested in finding out about use of alcoholic beverages by college students, you might pose the question, "What effect does use of alcoholic beverages have on the health of college students?" Or, "Are alcohol related deaths on the increase among college students?" Identify the main concepts or keywords in your question.

Look up your keywords in the indexes to general encyclopedias (e.g., Britannica Online). Read articles in these encyclopedias to set the context for your research. Note any relevant items in the bibliographies at the end of the encyclopedia articles. Additional background information may be found in your lecture notes, textbooks, and reserve readings.

Connect to the Nimitz Library's Library Catalog. Use keyword searching (e.g., drinking) for a narrow or complex search topic. Use subject searching for a broad subject (e.g., health). Print or write down the citation (author, title, etc.), the call numbers, and special location (e.g., Reference). Note the circulation status. When you pull the book from the shelf, scan the bibliography for additional sources, especially book-length bibliographies and annual reviews on your subject; they list citations to hundreds of books and articles in one subject area. Check the standard subject subheading:

"--BIBLIOGRAPHY" (e.g., HEALTH--BIBLIOGRAPHY)
or titles beginning with "Annual Review of..." in Innopac.

Use periodical indexes and abstracts to find citations to articles. The indexes and abstracts may be in print or electronic format or both. Choose the indexes and format best suited to your particular topic; ask at the Reference Desk (x32420) if you need help figuring out which index and format will be best. There are over 60 periodical indexes, many of which provide the full text of articles, on the Library's Databases web page, as well as 36 CD-Rom databases in the Reference Area of the Library. You can find periodical articles by the article author, title or subject. When you have recorded or printed out the citation from the index, look up the title of the periodical in the Library Catalog or on the Electronic Journals web page. The Library Catalog will indicate the years of coverage of the title and whether it is bound or on microfilm.

The Nimitz Library Home Page provides links to Databases, Electronic Journals, Government Information, and to a variety of subjects via Research Guides by Subject. The Library subscribes to LEXIS-NEXIS Academic and Project Muse, among many others. Navigating the Web can also assist with using search engines on the Web, as well as UC Berkeley's Finding Information on the Internet: A TUTORIAL.

See "Evaluating Internet Resources" on the Navigating the Web page and Scholarly Journals for suggestions on evaluating the authority and quality of the material you located. UCLA's Thinking Critically About World Wide Web Resources might be consulted as well. If you have found too many or too few sources, you may need to narrow or broaden your topic. Check with a reference librarian or your instructor.

Format the citations to all of the references in your bibliography using one of the standard formats: MLA, ALA, Chicago, Turabian, or Scientific. See your instructor if you are not certain which format should be used. For examples of print and electronic sources in each style, see the Nimitz Library's Citing Your Sources.

You may want to consult as well:

• Steps in the Research and Writing Process at Youngstown (Ohio) State University;
• Nimitz Library's Citing Your Sources
• USNA Academic Center;
• USNA Writing Center; and
• The Library's Avoiding Plagiarism pages.

For help in clarifying your topic or ideas about where to look next, or to be sure you're using a reference source effectively Ask A Librarian.

Adapted with permission from Library Research tutorial from the Division of Reference Services, Olin Kroch Uris Libraries, Cornell University Library.

Last updated: 7 July 2004           Top of Page