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Research Tools

Tips on gathering information :

Step 1: Identify your topic.
How? State your topic as a question. For example, if you wanted to know if college students grades are related to their ability to manage time, you might ask "Is time management important to the success of college students?" Next, you would identify the main keywords or concepts in your question. Using the example above, the keywords are: time management, college students, and the broader term - students.

Step 2: Check the currency of your keyword terms.
How? Look up some of your keywords in the indexes of encyclopedias. Check the Library of Congress Subject Headings for similar terms (Ref Z695 Z8 L524A). Try a broad SUBJECT search on LOIS to see if your topic comes up.

Step 3: Perform your Keyword search on LOIS to find books.
Use Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) to connect multiple terms. If you don't get any results, ask a librarian for help.

Step 4: Perform your Keyword search using the Research Databases to find full-text magazine/journal and newspaper articles, abstracts and citations. Use Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) to connect multiple terms. If you don't get any results, ask a librarian for help.

Step 5: Use Internet search engines and subject directories to locate material on the Web: www.infopeople.org/search/tools.html

Step 6: Evaluate and cite what you found using one of our Handouts. Handouts summarizing the APA and MLA styles and evaluation criteria are available at the Reference Desk.