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The Research Process

An overview of the research process, which includes information about search strategies, how to choose and refine topics, kinds of resources, and citing sources

Find background information

Read background material to get an overview of your topic. Overviews often introduce us to historical contexts as well as current controversies surrounding a particular subject.

You may find information that will help broaden or narrow your topic, as well as more potential search terms. You might find answers to preliminary questions (from Step 1) that you had about the topic. You may think of new questions to explore as you read.

The library's reference collection is a great place to start. You will find information from encyclopedias, dictionaries, handbooks, etc., some of which are general in nature, and some of which are very specialized. You can also consult a librarian for help finding background information.

Online resources for discovering reference materials are listed by category below.

Good for most subjects

STEM

Health sciences

Social sciences & business

Arts & humanities