1. Scholarly books - search the library catalog. Look for books published by academic presses or professional organizations, or by educated scholars in the field.
2. Scholarly articles - search OneSearch and limit results to Peer-Reviewed Journals, or search in a subject database.
3. Authoritative online sources (websites) - use Google Advanced search to limit results to .edu or .gov domains
Use the CRAAP test for evaluating websites:
4. Primary sources - see the Primary Sources tab of this guide
Following the references and footnotes in a given book or article can help you identify additional sources on a topic. This is called citation chaining.
If you find a reference in a bibliography that interests you, check OneSearch or the library catalog to see if we have it. If we don't, you can request the title through Interlibrary Loan or UBorrow.
In addition to serving as sources for your own research projects, most doctoral dissertations include exhaustive literature reviews and/or extensive bibliographies, making them incredibly useful for identifying additional sources on a topic.
Use this Assignment Calculator to help develop a research timeline.
