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    Start Here!

    by Meghan Kowalski on 2023-01-25T08:00:00-05:00 | 0 Comments

    Knowing what to do first when starting a research project can be confusing. There are a tons of places to try and they all offer different things. 

     

    Background Research

    Before you can start a deep dive looking for material, you should start with background research. Background information provides you with the important context of an idea or topic that helps you better understand your area of research. At its core, background information is what you need to know about a subject before you can research a specific question or argue a specific point.

    Also, background information can include your own personal and community experience. As a student, you have likely encountered many situations and learning opportunities that have informed your understanding and opinions on various subjects. While these are not "academic" sources, your experience matters and can help you understand all sides of a topic.

    The links below take you to our recommended library databases that can help you start your background research.

    • Credo Reference - Credo is a vast, online reference library, providing access to the full text of hundreds of highly regarded and popular titles. Credo Reference contains dictionaries, bilingual dictionaries, thesauri, encyclopedias, quotations and atlases, plus a wide range of subject-specific titles.
    • Encyclopedia Britannica Academic Edition - Britannica Academic delivers fast and easy access to high-quality, comprehensive information. The rich combination of the venerable Encyclopædia Britannica plus Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, magazines and periodicals, and many other research tools provides the variety of reliable sources that students need to consult when conducting thorough collegiate research—all from one resource.
    • Salem Reference - Reference books in the areas of health, history, literature, and science.
    • World Factbook - The World Factbook provides information on the history, people, government, economy, geography, communications, transportation, military, and transnational issues for 266 world entities. The Reference tab includes: maps of the major world regions, as well as Flags of the World, a Physical Map of the World, a Political Map of the World, and a Standard Time Zones of the World map.

     

    Multi-Subject Databases

    Once you've completed background research, you can start looking at individual databases. Unless your topic is highly specific, we recommend looking at multi-subject databases. These are broad, interdisciplinary databases with a lot of information about a lot of things. They include articles, books, and media resources.

    The links below take you to our recommended multi-subject databases.

    • Academic Search Premier - An excellent basic collection for undergraduate research needs. Find journals and books in social sciences, humanities, science, medicine, technology and more.
    • JSTOR - An interdisciplinary digital library of academic journals, books, and primary sources.
    • Opposing Viewpoints in Context - The premier online resource covering today's hottest social issues, from Offshore Drilling to Climate Change, Health Care to Immigration. Opposing Viewpoints in Context helps students research, analyze and organize a broad variety of data for conducting research, completing writing assignments, preparing for debates, creating presentations and more.
    • ProQuest Multiple Database Search - This database lets you search all 57 of the ProQuest databases we can access with one search. It covers business, science, humanities, criminal justice, education, and a whole host of other topics.

     

    This is just to get you started. Once you have a handle on what is out there, you can do deep dives into subject specific databases and archives. Research is a process and it's always a good idea to try several avenues to find what you need.


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