Research: Summary

When you are working on a business assignment, there are several steps you need to take.

STEP 1: Identify the main topics in your assignment
As soon as you get an assignment, you need to pick out the main topics.

These are the main ideas in the assignment.

Be sure to read your assignment carefully -- there may be more than one topic!

STEP 2: Make sure you understand the topics
The next step is to make sure you understand the topics.

If you are confused about any of the words or ideas, find out what they mean before you go any further.

The library website has many resources that can help you with this including the "Quick Reference Tools" section.

STEP 3 : Identify which information sources you will use
The next step of your research strategy is to figure out which information sources you will use.

Start by looking through your assignment. Often, it will tell you exactly what sources to use.

But, what do you do if your assignment doesn't tell you what information sources to use?

A good place to start is by looking on the Library's web site at the "Subject Guides" pages.

STEP 4 : Decide which search tools you will use to find your information sources
The final step is to decide which search tools you will use to find your information sources.

This was covered in the last module, but here is a table that reviews what you learned.

	Library Catalogue	Article Databases	Internet Search Engines
Books		#
Magazines & Newspapers	(if you are browsing for a topic)	(if you are looking for articles)
DVDs & Videos
Web Sites