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Library Resources for Writing 101: Home

The Basics

All libraries:

  1. Have a catalog.  The catalog is a union list of all material owned by the library.  Using keywords, subjects, titles, etc., you can locate material within the library.  With rare exception, library catalogs are interchangeable, and as a user, you'll find they all look a lot alike.
  2. Use some sort of subject classification.  The most common are Dewey, Library of Congress, and Cutter.  
  3. Have databases.  These are purchased by libraries after an evaluation period to ensure a) they contain reliable, unique information; b) they are user friendly; and c) they are cost effective.
  4. Can obtain material for you from other libraries.  Sharing.  It's fundamental.
  5. Are staffed by professionals who will help you find information, almost always for free, and typically without an appointment.  Anything you discuss with a librarian is completely confidential.  Librarians don't care who you are, what you're wearing, how old you may or may not be, whether or not you have fingers, knees, or toes - if you ask a librarian for assistance, you'll get it.  Libraries = democratic institutions!

How do I get started?

What do you want to know? "To Research" means to find out about something; you must first ask a question in order to discover or develop any idea. Starting with a good question will give you a tremendous advantage in research and writing.

A very common research problem is beginning with the answer before asking the question. A research question is not the same as a thesis statement. In other words, a research question is an open-ended beginning, not an endpoint.

Examples of good research questions include:

  • Should cell phone use while driving be banned?
  • How does the media affect the body image and wellness of teenagers?
  • Should the use of marijuana for medical purposes be legalized?
  • What influence did the Greeks have on the development of mathematics?

library catalog

Search WestSearch for books and media

What terms should I use?

Once you have formulated a good research question/topic, you will need to pick out the words and phrases that are most important to your search. This is called identifying the main concepts and is necessary for searching databases.

For example, let's say your research question is:

What influence did the Greeks have on the development of mathematics?

Looking at the question word-by-word, let's see which words will actually be useful when you search for information:

What influence did the Greeks have on the development of mathematics?

The useful words/concepts are in red. Notice the words chosen have some integral meaning - and they each describe a specific part of our question. We skipped words that were too common or generic (what, on, the, did, etc.)

Now what?

A search statement is a combination of words or concepts that you will input into a database to retrieve appropriate articles. When creating a search statement, you should try to get one word to described each part of your question.

For example, using the concepts in our research question above, a search statement may look like this:

Greeks AND development AND mathematics

Notice the word AND in the search statement above! This indicates ALL of the selected words must appear in the search results.