Working on a research paper?
Here's how you...

Find books

• Use the Online Catalog
• Use the keyword search to find your topic.
• Group phrases together with quotation marks ("underage drinking") and group similar terms together using the word "and (teens and drinking).
• If you are having trouble, try varying your search terms (underage drinking, alcoholism, alcohol and teens, teens and "alcohol use").

Find articles from magazines, journals or newspapers in our databases

• Go to our homepage
• Select the Reference and Research tab.
• Select or Newspaper Articles from the left column.
• Choose the database you would like to use. We recommend starting with MasterFile Elite for magazines and Newspaper Source for newspapers.
• Type in your topic. Use similar strategies to those listed under Find Books.

Find articles from reference books and encyclopedias

Try our reference section.

• These books can't be checked out, but you can copy any needed pages.
• Reference books will have similar call numbers to those you used to find the books on your topic, but will have an "R" in front of them (ie: R616/AME).
• If you can't find a reference book on your exact topic, think more broadly (ie: underage drinking is a health issue and a social issue - try a helth or sociology encyclopedia.)

Try the Online Library: an excellent collection of digital reference books.

• Go to our homepage
• Click on the "Online Library" link in the upper right corner.
• Type in your topic and use similar strategies to those listed above.

Learn more about finding and analyzing information in our Guide to Doing Research.

And don't forget, you can always ask a librarian! We're here to help!

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