Research Tips
- You might use web resources like Google and Wikipedia to START your research, just don't finish your research there. Use the Library Website--the Library's web interface to find authoratative, scholarly resources.
- Use Wikipedia and other web sites "academically." Look at the list of references, for bibliographies and other lists of resources to begin your research.
- Use web sites to find keywords that can be used to search for subject encyclopedias, books and articles.
How to use the library home page
Where do you get your Information?
The Web can provide excellent starting places to do your research.
But if you are only using Google and Wikipedia to find your information, you may not be finding all of the information that is available on your topic.
Three very important facts to remember about information:
- Search Engines only index a portion of the information available on the web: A lot of useful information is not freely available on the web. It is proprietary, meaning someone--an author, a publisher, or institution--owns the information.
- Not all digitized information is created equal: You need to critically analyze and evaluate the information you intend to use.
- Not all information has been digitized: There are still books in the Library. And other print and analog resources that do not exist on the Web.