Service Alert
You're probably familiar with Wikipedia, the largest reference source in human history. Wikipedia is a powerful research tool because of its breadth and up-to-date information.
Wikipedia has been criticized for inaccuracies and bias, but multiple studies have shown that the quality of most articles on the site is comparable to that of other commercial encyclopedias. However, this doesn't mean that you can do effective research by just using this one source.
Use Wikipedia as a starting point for research to help you get a baseline understanding of a topic and figure out where to go next. And always evaluate Wikipedia articles for credibility.
Wikipedia is probably the best tool for background research for very recent or niche topics, but there are other great sources for background research for more established and widely-known topics, such as Credo Reference, described below:
Everett Library subscribes to this effective tool for exploring topics. Credo Reference hosts a collection of encyclopedias and dictionaries from academic publishers, images and video, and pro/con lists for various topics.
Many search results also feature a word map to enable you to explore related topics.
You can search for specific topics or browse by discipline.
Depending on the nature of your assignment, you may have many options for what topic to research. Doing background research is how you figure out what's most interesting to you. Choosing a topic you're interested in will make the research process more enjoyable and lead to stronger work.
Take notes as you learn more about your topic. Some things to keep track of include:
These notes will help keep you focused as you do your research and save time by keeping your research organized.
As you learn more about a topic, make a plan for how you want to approach it in your project. Consider things like: