Beginning Research

Having highlighted the titles with your keywords, go to the homepage of your library. Begin by specifically looking up your items by both author and title in the library catalog. Once you have located them, write down the call number next to the listing on your photocopied bibliography.

This author/title search is a great way to get exactly what you are looking for. If your search through your textbook bibliography was paltry, then you can look at the library’s listings under some of those authors, titles, or keywords. This is a good way to find out more about your topic, as authors tend to specialize and frequently have multiple publications about related topics. Also note that when your author and text appear you can scroll down the listing to find Library of Congress headings (Description, Subject, Other author, Call number, Notes, etc). Click on the links to broaden your search if you find your results are too narrow.

If your library does not have a copy of the work you need, look to your regional inter library loan or the national inter library loan. A quick word of advice: if you are unfamiliar with your inter library loan I would speak to a Reference Librarian. They are brilliant people who exist for the sole purpose of helping you find research material, and they tend to be really good at their job!

So walk into your library with your bibliography and the call numbers for your highlighted titles and avoid just sitting down to a computer and doing a keyword search through hundreds of thousands of sources with possible reference to your topic. Remember having great focus now will help you later.