First, find a Research Guide or Course Guide that relates to your subject or discipline. Click either "Guides" or "Subject Guides"on the library home page then select a Subject or Course guide or the Research Starter Guide..
Second, review the resources in the Guide, hand-picked by librarians to be the best for that discipline or course. Usually, there is a section of background, reference or encyclopedic sources that will be the first resource to investigate. You want to try and get 5 things from resources:
S = subtopics (find areas to narrow your focus within your research area)
T = terminology (find keywords to search in databases)
A = authors (perform your due diligence and reference significant researchers)
R = references (start compiling references to articles, books, etc.)
T = treatment (historical review, experimental analysis, economic review?)
Third, use the Journals and Articles search boxes on the home page to find the references from your encyclopedic search. Next, use the article indexes & databases in your Research Guide to get primary and secondary level articles that will support your literature review and provide your core references.
Fourth, use bibliographic tools such as RefWorks to help build your bibliographies automatically.
For more information, see the Step by Step Guide or visit the Research and Writing Center.
