LIBRARY RESOURCES
• Search the school and public library's online catalog for all available books on your topic.



• Search the library's online subscription databases.



• Think of keywords, remembering that if your search words are too narrow, you will not find many sources; on the other hand if they are too broad, you will not find the search useful.



• As you find books on your topic listed in the computer, you can then track those books down on the shelf. After a few minutes of searching on the computer, you will start to see that certain books have call numbers (the number on the book's spine that tells its location in the library) that are similar. After you finish your work on the computer, ask a librarian, or check the shelves to locate the call numbers that correspond with your books. When you get to the section where your book is located, look around at all the books in that particular section. Sometimes you will find great resources that you were unaware of just by looking on the shelf.



• Search the library's databases, especially the Student Resource Centre - Bronze. This resource contains secondary sources on a wide range of topics. (Hint: If you are accessing this from home, you will need the sheet of passwords!)



• Once you have exhausted all available books, databases, anthologies, encyclopedias, and reference books, turn to the WWW. (Hint: Most of you can surf the Web at home, so budget your class-, study hall-, and after school-time accordingly!).

The WWW
• Often times, the last resource you should use is the World Wide Web.



• Think of keywords, remembering that if your search words are too narrow, you will not find many sources; on the other hand if they are too broad, you will not find the search useful.



• Many of the resources you find will contain bibliographies or suggestions for further readings, both of which contain other secondary sources that you may find helpful.



• A key word search of your broad topic will reveal links to more information and more irrelevant information than you will possibly need to support your thesis adequately; therefore, you must be extremely selective in evaluating the relevance of these sources.



• Immediately determine the authoritativeness of your secondary source.



• Use the following general guidelines to judge the authority and reliability of information published on the Web.
• Is the author (critic) a professor affiliated with a distinguished university or college?
• Is the source excerpted from a scholarly journal or anthology?
• Is the source frequently referred to as being authoritative by other sources?
• If you can answer “yes” to one or more of the above criteria, then you likely have discovered a reliable source.
• Is the source a paper written by a student?
• Is the source particularly amateurish, biased, or satirical?
• Is the author unskilled at spelling and punctuation?
• If you can answer “yes” to one or more of the above criteria, then you likely have discovered an unreliable source.
• Judging the authority and reliability of your source is only possible if you know enough about your topic!
• For further help with evaluating websites, visit the "Evaluating Internet Resources" link on South High Library's homepage.

WHAT'S NEXT?
• Avoid incorporating sources you do not understand!



• At this stage in the research process, you likely have gathered more information than you will use in your research paper. You must now carefully select relevant information to support your thesis; this will involve taking notes during and after a close reading of your sources.



• Begin the note-taking process by recording the bibliographical information of each source: title, author, location of publication, publisher, year of publication, and page numbers of relevant information.



• Briefly skim for the type of detailed information you will eventually include in a works cited page.



• Merely highlighting or underlining key passages is not note taking! You must digest each source and assimilate relevant information into your own analysis.



• You may find it helpful to use traditional note cards to compile information from secondary sources.



• Some of your teachers may require note cards. When in doubt, ask your teacher



• At this stage, you will be gathering more information or quotations than you will include in your paper.



• Do not over quote from secondary sources! Secondary sources should support, not supplant, your own analysis!

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