1. BROOKENS LIBRARY
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS SPRINGFIELD
getting started with your research

2. Getting started
Familiarize yourself with the requirements for the paper/assignment/project:

How many sources do you need? 3. What types of sources do you need (magazines, newspaper articles, books)? 4. How current do your sources need to be? 5. Do you need academic/scholarly/peer-reviewed sources?

The Information Cycle
http://www.library.dmu.ac.uk/Support/Heat/index.php?page=473
6. Information Cycle in Action
7. Popular vs. Scholarly
http://uncg.libguides.com/content.php?pid=132704&sid=1137926
8. Evaluating your Sources
http://www.flatworldknowledge.com/pub/flat-world-knowledge-handbook-/352746#web-352746
9. Define your Keywords
You can enter an entire question in the Google search box and often get some relevant results but that is not true for the library resources
When using the catalog and other databases:
1. Pull out the keywords from your thesis statement or question

Q:Does the use of cell phones cause cancer? 10. Keywords: cell phones and cancer

2. Create a list of synonyms

Cell phones>cellular phones>mobile phones>wireless phones 11. Cancer>health (broader) AND [types of cancer] (narrower)

3. Identify who might be writing about this topic
In which disciplines would scholars be researching this topic?
Important to think about when trying to find subject-specific databases.
12. Keywords vs. Subject Headings
13. What are Boolean Operators?
AND - Narrow search and retrieve records containing all of the words cellular telephones AND cancer
OR - Broaden search and retrieve records containing any of the words it separates
((cellular OR mobile OR wireless) AND (phones OR devices)) AND cancer
NOT - Narrow search and retrieve records that do not contain the term following it
cancer AND (cell phones NOT iPhones)