Start any research project by working with the broadest out- lines or topics (and the broadest resources) and slowly narrow your focus, getting more and more specific in topic and sources as you go along.
Encyclopedic entries are usually the most comprehensive and concise you will find. They cover so much territory and are so (relatively) up to date that they are an ideal “big picture” resource.
If you are writing a paper about a historical or contemporary figure, also consider skimming a biographical dictionary or, even better, one of the specific volumes in the Who’s Who series, which ranges from Who’s Who in Art and Who’s Who in American Jewry to Who’s Who in Vietnam and Who’s Who in Theatre.
Needless to say, new CD-ROMs and reference websites appear almost hourly. These many current resources should make it increasingly easy to choose a good topic, establish a reasonable thesis, and gather enough information to construct an initial outline, with- out having to do any further research.
Evaluating Resources
You may find so many potential resources that you won’t have time to read them all. Concentrate on those that have been published most recently or written by the most respected sources. However, don’t limit yourself too much—gather information from a wide range of sources. Otherwise, you may learn only one side of the story.
There are two types of resources: primary and secondary.
Primary resources are those written by people who actually witnessed or participated in an event. When you read a scientist’s report about an experiment he has conducted, you are consulting a primary resource.
Secondary resources are those written by people who were not actually present at an event, but have studied the subject. When you read a book about the 1950s written by someone who was born in 1960, you are learning from a secondary resource.
Primary resources are likely to be more reliable sources of information. But depending upon your subject, there may not be any primary resources available to you.
Where to Look for Materials
How do you find out whether anyone has written a magazine or newspaper article about your topic? How do you know if there are any government documents or pamphlets that might be of help? How do you locate those written-by-the-experts reference books?
You look in your library’s publication indexes, which list all of the articles, books, and other materials that have been published and/or are available in your library. Most are arranged alphabetically by subject:
1. The card catalog. This is a list of all the books in your library. (Although many libraries now store it on computer, it’s still often called a card catalog because it used to be kept on index cards.) Books are indexed in three different ways: by subject, by author, and by title.
2. Book catalogs. The best-known are Books in Print, Forthcoming Books, and the Cumulative Book Index.
3. Newspaper indexes. Several large-city newspapers provide an indexed list of all articles they have published. Your library may even have past issues of one or more available on microfiche.
4. Periodical indexes. To find out if any magazine articles have been published on your subject, go to a periodical index. The Readers’ Guide to Periodical Literature, which indexes articles published in the most popular American magazines, may be one with which you’re already familiar.
5. Vertical file. Here’s where you’ll find pamphlets and brochures.
6. Guide to U.S. Government Publications, American Statistical Index, and Congressional Information Service Index. These are all useful for locating government publications.
7. Computer databases. Widely used indexes are available, covering American and world history, art, biology, philosophy, religion, psychology, engineering, and much more.
8. The Internet. Most magazines, newspapers, encyclopedias, government organizations, and so forth have websites that can be a starting point for your search. They often have links to other sites where you can find full-length articles and stories, biographic information, and the like.
How Libraries Are Organized
To provide organization and facilitate access, most small and academic libraries utilize the Dewey decimal classification system, which uses numbers from 000 through 999 to classify all material by subject matter. It begins by organizing all books into 10 major groupings.
Given the millions of books available in major libraries, just dividing them into these 10 groups would still make it quite difficult to find a specific title. So each of the 10 major groupings is further divided into 10, and each of these now 100 groups is assigned to more specific subjects within each large group. For example, within the philosophy classification (100), 150 is psychology and 170 is ethics. Within the history classification (900), 910 is travel and 930 is ancient history.
An Approach to Online Research
■ Long before a paper is due, choose four search engines—one a metasearch engine (which searches other search engines), the other three regular. Robin’s recommendations: Copernic (meta), Google, Hotbot, AltaVista, Northern Light, Dogpile (meta).
■ When beginning your research, use the meta engine first.
■ Learn each engine’s advanced features—you’ll find things faster and easier.
■ Print out the FAQ pages for each search engine and create your own manual.
■ Choose three search engines with different strengths to maximize your search abilities.
■ Consider using a specialized search engine, such as Beaucoup, if you are unable to find what you want or have found too much information.
■ Learn Boolean searches.
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