FP Bibliography and Source Evaluation Library Assignment

To search for a phrase, use quotation marks, e.g. "Iraq War"

To search for words with the same root or trunk, use an asterisk * (truncation symbol): romantic* will find "romantic," "romanticism," "romantically," etc.

To combine multiple search terms, use the Boolean operators AND, OR, or NOT:

AND - finds records with all of your search terms

OR - finds records with one term or the other, or both terms

NOT - finds records that include the first term, but not the second

Reference books are helpful starting places if you want:

1. To browse for research ideas.
2. Help with focusing your topic.
3. General information about a topic, person, place, or an event.
4. More resources that provide bibliographies – which will lead to additional books and articles to look at.

Wikipedia isn't the only place to get quick background on a topic! Check out these reliable online reference collections offered through the library:

SAGE Reference - contains close to 70 reference books in the social sciences

Credo Reference - contains over 500 reference books in multiple disciplines

For more online reference sources, see the library's listing of general online reference materials and explore reference materials by subject (navigate to your subject to see specific reference resources).