Research Strategy

Topic Overviews

General or specialized encyclopedias and textbooks (For electronic encyclopedias use Gale Virtual Reference Library)

Provide authoritative summaries that give an overview of a topic

Help identify and define key terms, and identify important people

Suggest other sources for more information on the topic

Identifies specific issues that can be used to focus your research question

Books and Ebooks

Go to the “Find/Search” menu on the navigation bar of any Renfro Library webpage and click on “Books and Media” to search the MHU Library Catalog

Search for titles and authors recommended by the sources from which you got your topic overviews

Do a “Subject” search using appropriate Library of Congress Subject Headings from the red books at the Research Assistance Desk

If you can’t find a good subject heading or the ones you find don’t produce any results in the catalog, try a word search using various keywords

For more help with the catalog see Catalog Search

To locate a book, use the location and call number information from the catalog

To view an ebook, click on the long link below location and call number

If our catalog doesn’t provide access to appropriate or sufficient resources, inquire about interlibrary loan

Magazine, Journal and Newspaper Articles

To find articles on a topic, use a periodical index. An index will tell you in which journal or newspaper (title, date and page) articles on your topic can be found

Go to the “Find/Search” menu on the navigation bar of any Renfro Library webpage and click on “Articles” to select a general or subject specific periodical index database

For help with searching databases, look for a Help or Search Tips link within the search screen or ask at the library Research Assistance Desk

If you find an article that is not available in full text in the database you searched, use the “Journal Locator” link located under the “Find/Search” menu on the navigation bar to see whether the library has the magazine or journal in which the article was published

If the publication is not available at MHU, ask about interlibrary loan

Finding Information on the Web

The Web offers access to a vast array of information, including top quality resources critical to good research as well as much that is biased, inaccurate, undocumented and/or out-of-date.

Websites should always be carefully evaluated. For tips on evaluating websites see Evaluating Websites.