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

(Bibliographic Index is a bibliography of bibliographies)collections of abstracts that summarize articles in newspapers and in professionaljournalsreviews of the year's work; look for a title in your field beginning with Reviews in . ..for new fields, Web sites maintained by individuals or scholarly associationsIf you know even a little of the secondary literature on your topic, you can begin looking formore substantive sources (skip to 3.3.7–3.3.8). If you don't, you might start with somespecialized reference works.3.3.5 Skim a Few Specialized Reference WorksStart by looking up your topic in a relevant specialized encyclopedia or dictionary such as theEncyclopedia of Philosophy or the Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms, where youmay find an overview of your topic and often a list of standard primary and secondary sources(in the bibliography, see items in categories 1 and 2 in your field).3.3.6 Search Your Library CatalogSUBJECT HEADINGS IN BOOKS. As soon as you find one recent book relevant to your topic,look it up in your library's online catalog to find its Library of Congress subject headings;they will be at the bottom of the entry. For example, the online entry for this book includesthese two topics:1. Dissertations, Academic. 2. Academic writing.You can click on the subject headings to find other books on the same topics. Many of thosesources will have still more subject headings that can lead you to still more sources; it canturn into an endless trail.KEYWORDS. Also search your online catalog using keywords from your question or workinghypothesis—Alamo, Texas independence, James Bowie. If you find too many titles, start withthose published in the last ten years by well-known university presses. For a wider selection,search WorldCat if your library subscribes. Otherwise, search the Library of Congress catalogat http://www.loc.gov. It has links to large university catalogs. Start early if you expect to getbooks on interlibrary loan.ARTICLES. If most sources on your topic are articles, locate a recent one in your library'sonline databases. Its database entry will include a list of keywords. Search for them to findmore articles on your topic. In most cases, you can just click on them. Some databases alsoprovide abstracts of journal articles. Use these keywords to search the library catalog, as well.3.3.7 Search Guides to Periodical Literaturewww.itpub.net