Research Guides: Hill: Searching

Course Assignment

Select a topic or field of study you want to learn more about .

Conducting Research - Where do I begin?
With so many available information sources, knowing where to start, sorting through it all and finding what you want can be overwhelming. This link provides answers to the following research-related questions: Where do I begin? Where should I look for information? What types of sources are available?

Search tips

Search Tips

combine keywords using AND or OR for more precise results
use "quotation marks" to search for phrases
to search by title, start your search with ti:
to search by author, start your search with au:last name, first name
use Advanced Search to combine search concepts, as well as limit by date, format, etc.

What is College Research?

What is College Research?
This video clarifies what college-level research is, as it differs from high-school research.

Keywords & synonyms

Thesaurus.com
As you do your research reading, be alert to words and phrases that describe your topic. Browse the table of contents, scan chapters, consider suggested words, phrases, and various aspects of your topic. Browse encyclopedia articles for an outline and breakdown of concepts, and the vocabulary used to describe these. In addition you can search a thesaurus for more related terms.

Note: as you do your research reading stay alert to words and phrases that describe your topic. In addition you can search a thesaurus or dictionary for more related terms.