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CCC Find Background Information

Start your research with a careful look at background sources (encyclopedias and reference works).

brussels sprouts growing in a gardenLooking at background information is an essential first step in the research process, but it tends to come across like I'm offering a bowl of boiled brussels sprouts. Instead, researchers are often immediately drawn to peer reviewed scholarly articles (the main entrée, if you will). But for anyone who's not an expert in the field of, say, psycholinguistics, or any other specialized research field, those articles might be extremely difficult for average folks to understand. 

And a single internet search (dessert!) will give "quick" access to a whole range of sources, but the drawback there is that you'll have to determine what kinds of sources they are all on your own.

So I offer the library resources below. Think of them as the chips and salsa of the research process. Sure, the main dish is more exciting, but who can pass up chips and salsa?

CREDO Search

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CREDO is a bit like searching Wikipedia: expect general, background articles on broad topics. Read into your topic and use CREDO to understand and narrow your topic. Don't forget that library databases like CREDO will generate accurate citations for you.

Gale Power Search

Search for background and reference sources in Power Search

Once your search results appear, use the links at the top of the page to narrow by Result Type. Reference, Magazines, and News are all great for background research.

What about...?

Can I use Wikipedia to do background research?

Absolutely. A decent first or second step in your research process might be to look at the Wikipedia page related to your topic. What you shouldn't do is use Wikipedia as a source in your paper. Instead, find the source the Wikipedia editors used (hot tip: they're linked and listed at the bottom of every Wikipedia page!) and use that one instead.