10 Search Tips for New Researchers
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Always start your research at the library website
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Start early: academic research is a skill that requires time and practice
- Determine the kinds of sources you need (scholarly or popular, primary or secondary, books or articles, etc.)
- Use a library research guide to select the most appropriate databases
- Run multiple searches with different combinations of keywords
- Filter and sort your results in multiple ways
- Use citations, subject headings, and cited-by data to find more relevant results
- Use Zotero to save the sources you find and to format the citations in your bibliography
- Always ask a librarian if you're having trouble finding credible and relevant sources or hit a paywall
- Never pay for access to a source; use EZ Borrow or Interlibrary Loan instead