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Finding Information Efficiently

The following six 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 familiarity with the library, you will rearrange or repeat these steps. For some subjects, books may be sufficient; for others periodical articles will be best. Adapt this outline to your needs.

1. IDENTIFY YOUR TOPIC
State your topic as a question. For example, if you are interested in finding out about the use of alcoholic beverages by college students, you might pose the question, "What effect does the use of alcoholic beverages have on the health of college students?" Identify the main concepts or keywords in your question.
2. FIND BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Look up your keywords in encyclopedia indexes. Read articles in subject and general encyclopedias to set the context for your research. Note any relevant items in the bibliographies at the end of the articles. Additional background information may be found in your lecture notes, textbooks, and reserve readings.
3. FIND BOOKS IN THE PELLISSIPPI ONLINE CATALOG or
    NetLibrary
The Pellissippi Online Catalog searches both print books and E-books (electronic books that are available online from any computer). If you are only interested in E-books you may search NetLibrary directly. Use keyword searching for a narrow or complex search topic. Use subject searching for a broad subject. Print or write down the citation (author, title, etc.) and the location information (call number and location code). If the book is located at another campus, make arrangements to go to that campus or talk to the librarian to arrange an intercampus loan. Note if the book is a print book or an e-book. For print books note the items the circulation status.

When you pull the book from the shelf, scan the bibliography for additional sources, and watch for book-length bibliographies and annual reviews on your subject; they list citations to hundreds of books and articles in one subject area. Scan the books near the one you selected; these may also be relevant to your topic.
4. USE INDEXES TO FIND PERIODICALS INFORMATION
Use periodical indexes and abstracts to find citations to articles. The indexes and abstracts may be in printed or computer-based formats or both. Choose the indexes and format best suited to your particular topic. Use the Academic OneFile database for general searches.  It indexes more than 2000 periodicals with full-text coverage of over 1000 publications. Choose “more search options”  if you want to limit you search to full-text publications which may be printed from your computer.

Use Subject Guides or Databases by Subject to locate indexes and abstracts for information in specific research areas. Print out, save to disk or write citations. If the article is not full text, use the citation information to locate the periodical you want by looking up the title of the periodical in the Pellissippi Library Online Catalog for holdings information.
5. EVALUATE WHAT YOU HAVE FOUND

See Skill Guide No. 3, "How to Critically Analyze Information Sources," and Skill Guide No. 4., "Distinguishing Scholarly from Non-Scholarly Periodicals: A Checklist of Criteria" for suggestions on evaluating the authority and quality of the books and articles you located. If you found too many or too few sources, you may need to narrow or broaden your topic. Check with a reference librarian or your instructor.

6. USE A STANDARD FORMAT FOR YOUR BIBLIOGRAPHY
Consult the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (REF LB 2369 .G53 1995), the
Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (REF BF 76.7 P83 1994), the Harbrace College Handbook (REF PE 1112 .H6 1994), or the Prentice Hall Reference Guide (REF PE 1112 .H293 2006). These guides show how to format citations.


RESEARCH TIPS

START EARLY: Give yourself time to make mistakes and/or locate material that may not be immediately available.


WORK FROM THE GENERAL TO THE SPECIFIC: Find background information first, then use more specific and recent sources.


WRITE DOWN WHAT YOU FIND AND WHERE YOU FOUND IT: Write out a complete citation for each source.


HAVING TROUBLE? Ask for help at the reference desk, or contact a librarian with Ask-A-Librarian.

WRITING THE PAPER: STYLE AND USAGE

Hodges, John C, .et al. Harbrace College Handbook, 13th ed. New York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich,
1998. (REF PE 1112 .H6 1998a)

Harris, Muriel. Prentice Hall Reference Guide to Grammar and Usage. 4th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ.:
Prentice Hall, 2000. (REF PE 1112. H293 2000)

This handbook is usd in a number of college English courses.  It is based on the MLA Style Manual and
is intended as an aid for college students writing research papers. Included here is information on
selecting a topic, researching the topic, note taking, the writing of footnotes and bibliographies, and
sample pages of a research paper. Available at the Reference Desk and extremely useful for the
beginning researcher.

Strunk, William and E.B.White. The Elements of Style. 3rd ed. New York: MacMillan, 1979. (PE 1408
.S772 1979)

Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. 5th ed. Washington: APA 2001. (REF
BF 76.7 P83 2001).

Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 5th ed. New York: MLA 1999 (REF
LB 2369. G53 1999)

Turabian, Kate L. A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations. 6th ed. Revised by
John Grossman and Alice Bennett. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996. (LB 2369 .T8 1996)

Kate Turabian's standard guide for student writers, revised and expanded by John Grossman
and Alice Bennett. This manual presents information about essential elements in writing including
spelling, punctuation, capitalization, quotations, and citations of sources.