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Building a Library Research Strategy

This guide will help students develop a research strategy for finding information for papers or projects.

What is this page for?

Where you start your research depends on the kinds of information that you are looking for.

This page provides some tips on where to start.

Where do I start?

  1. Where you look depends on the kinds of information you need. This chart helps where to look for different types of information.
  2. Good search strategies often include multiple types of sources.
  3. Be sure to begin by understanding the requirements of your assignment!

Chart showing spectrum of information on the internet versus library databases

Information to the left of the dotted line:

The information to the left of the dotted line is information found on the Internet, which includes Wikipedia, online news sources and broadcast media. This information is produced quickly; sometimes daily, hourly, or second to second. 

Information to the right of the dotted line:

The information to the right of the dotted line includes information in electronic formats (found online) or in print formats. These types of information include books, scholarly journals, encyclopedia articles, and raw data. These information types can take up to months or years to produce. They cannot always be found on the free web (like in a Google search), but can be found through the library. 

What about Sources?

1 minute tutorials about sources from Credo Database:

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An SVC Guide to sources:

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