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Finding Background Information
Once you have identified the main topic and keywords
for your research, you will want to try to find one or more sources
of background information to read. These sources will help you understand
the broader context of your research and give you, in general terms,
what is known about your topic.
A good first step in finding background materials is to look at the
resources in the library's reference collection. The most common background
sources are encyclopedias and dictionaries. These sources will give
you a good overview of the topic, will outline the basic historical
context and will help you identify key participants, dates and publications
associated with your topic. Textbooks may also provide useful background
information.
Ask
a librarian or professor to suggest reference sources or textbooks,
such as specialized encyclopedias, chronologies or factbooks which
will give you an historical overview of a topic or event and identify
the participants. If you have specific people in mind already, biographical
dictionaries and encyclopedias will give you background information
and bibliographies of primary and secondary sources.
Encyclopedias and Dictionaries:
You can find encyclopedias and dictionaries for specific topics by
using the Acorn Library
Catalog, or by asking a Reference
Librarian to suggest appropriate titles, or by consulting a Reference
Bibliography (an annotated bibliography of selected reference sources
on a specific subject). A good source for general background information
is the Encyclopedia
Britannica Online.
Bibliographies:
Read the background information and note any useful sources (books,
journals, magazines, etc.) listed in the bibliography at the end of
the encyclopedia article or dictionary entry. The sources cited in
the bibliography are good starting points for further research.
Look up these sources in the Acorn
Library Catalog and/or periodical indexes. Check the subject headings
listed in the subject field of the Acorn record for these books and
articles. Then do subject searches using those subject headings to
locate additional titles.
Remember that many of the books and articles you find in the Acorn
Library Catalog and/or in the periodical indexes will themselves
have bibliographies. Check these bibliographies for additional relevant
resources for your research. By using a technique of routinely following
up on sources cited in bibliographies, you can generate a surprisingly
large number of books and articles on your topic in a relatively short
time.
Now that you have an idea of the possible scope of your topic, the
next step is to refine
your topic.
Updated August 2002
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