A-manual-for-writers-of-research-papers-theses-and-dissertations

important one, you'll lose credibility.3.3.1 Look for Someone Who Knows Something about Your TopicYou might start by asking around to find someone who knows something about your topicand standard reference works on it: advanced students, faculty, even people outside theacademic community. You might look up your topic in the yellow pages of the phonebook.You won't always find someone, but you might get lucky.3.3.2 Skim the InternetBefore college, many students do research only on the Web, because their high schoollibraries are small and they need to find only a few sources. In college, you can still do somepreliminary work with a scholarly search engine such as Google Scholar. It will give you arough idea of the kinds of sources available. If your library catalog is online, you can alsostart there (see 3.3.6 below). But if you search just the Internet, you'll miss important sourcesthat you'll find only by poking around in your library. Once again, you'll work mostefficiently if you have a plan.3.3.3 Talk to Reference LibrariansIf you don't know how to find what you need, ask a librarian. Most college libraries offertours of reference rooms and special collections, and short seminars on how to search thecatalog, databases, and other sources of information. If you're a new researcher, seize everyopportunity to learn online search techniques in your field.You can also talk to librarians who specialize in your area. They won't find sources for you,but they will help you look for them. If you have a research question, share it: I'm looking fordata on X because I want to find out. . . . If you have a working hypothesis and reasons, sharethem too: I'm looking for data to show Y [your reason] because I want to claim Z [yourhypothesis]. Rehearse your questions to avoid wasting your time and theirs.3.3.4 Browse in Your Reference AreaResearchers in all fields share common values and habits of thought, but every field has itsown ways of doing things. To learn about the ways of your field, browse the shelves in yourlibrary's reference room that hold guides to your field's particular research methods,databases, and special resources (in the bibliography, see items in category 3 in your field). Atleast familiarize yourself with the following resources (in the bibliography, see category 4 forlists of sources in your field; many are also online):a bibliography of works published each year in your field, such as Philosopher's Index orEducation Indexsummary bibliographies of works on a specific topic collected over several years