When you start your research, keep in mind that research is similar to detective work. Look for clues to narrow your topic, find relevant search terms, and formulate ideas for your essay. While researching, keep your eyes open for clues such as topics you might want to include in your essay or use as key search terms,. These terms could even be controversies, names of people or legislation that relate to your topic in order to locate appropriate sources. Useful publications may be listed in bibliographies.
Read your prompt carefully. Like a detective, get the basic facts and expectations from your client (your professor). What does your professor want? Your professor will explain the requirements for the assignment, but clues like possible search terms may slip into the text of the prompt. Words and phrases from the prompt such as American Indians, protest, civil rights, genocide, Indian Appropriations Act, Tecumseh might be useful in a database search. Search terms can be phrases and proper names, not just single words.
Like any detective, you'll want information about the background of your topic or "suspect" to understand the situation or issues.
Finding Background Information
If you use OneSearch, you will often retrieve a Start Your Research article that provides useful overviews about your topic. In the example below, we searched for the term, "Trail of Tears", and found the starter article indicated with the light bulb. Not all searches will bring up a starter article, but Start Your Research articles provide background information typically found in encyclopedias. Use these articles as a starting point for research to find useful concepts, controversies, names of important people or legislation, historical background, and very importantly, keywords that you can incorporate into database searches.
To find other encyclopedic articles for background information, you can use the Gale eBooks database.
Containing encyclopedias and specialized reference sources, Gale eBooks assists with research over a number of disciplines.