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PART II
DOING RESEARCH

 

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Chapter 5
How Can I Find the Information I Need?
The beginning of research is curiosity, its essence is discernment, and its goal is truth and justice.
ISAAC H. SATANOV
The Information Explosion
The information age is upon us—and there's no escape! Ready or not, we are living in the midst of the greatest explosion of information the world has ever seen. No other generation has been blitzed by the books, newspapers, magazines, journals, surveys, advertisements, videos, television shows, movies, maps, charts, graphs, CDs, and tapes that we encounter daily. And that doesn't take into account all the on-line sources, such as Web sites, electronic bulletin boards, newsgroups, and e-mail. More information has been produced in the last fifty years than in the previous five thousand.
Consider these facts about the amount of information available to us today:
• Fifty thousand books and ten thousand magazines are published every year in America alone.
• Every day, seven thousand scientific studies are written.

 

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• One daily edition of The New York Times contains more information than an educated person in the sixteenth century absorbed in his or her entire life.
There is so much information that even the huge Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., fears the downpour. Currently, the library houses more than 100 million items. To deal with the onslaught of new information, the library has announced a plan to convert all the important information it contains into digital form. The new collection, called the ''National Digital Library,'' will become the most extensive source of information for the National Information Infrastructure, the so-called "Information Superhighway."
Futurists predict that this onslaught of information will only increase. By the year 2000, the amount of information produced will double every two years.
What impact does this trend have on you as you prepare your research paper? All the information you need is probably available, but you must know how to locate and sort the useful facts from the useless ones. And with much out there, knowing how to do research can save you many frustrating hours in the library. Let's start this process by examining the different kinds of material you can find.
Primary and Secondary Sources
All research can be sorted into two categories: primary sources and secondary sources. It is important to know the distinction between these two types of sources because they affect how you gather research.
Primary Sources
Primary sources are those created by direct observation. The writers were participants in or observers of the events they describe.
Examples:
Primary sources include:
Autobiographies.
Diaries.
Eyewitness accounts.

 

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Interviews.
Historical records and documents.
Journals.
Letters.
Logs.
Oral histories.
Maps prepared by direct observation.
Photos taken at the scene.
Statistics.
Surveys.
Secondary Sources
Secondary sources are written by people with indirect knowledge. They rely on primary sources or other secondary sources for their information.
Examples:
Secondary sources include:
Abstracts.
Almanacs.
Biographies.
Book reviews.
Books written by nonparticipants.
Critical analyses.
Encyclopedias.
Explanations.
Government documents.
Indexes.
Interpretations.
Literary criticism.
Textbooks.
Primary sources are not necessarily better (or worse) than secondary sources.
Primary Sources:
• Provide facts and viewpoints that may not be available from other sources.
• Often have an immediacy and freshness that secondary sources lack.
• May be affected by the author's bias.

 

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Secondary Sources:
• May offer a broader perspective than primary sources.
• Tend to be less immediate than primary sources.
• May be affected by the author's bias.
Effective research papers often use a mix of both primary and secondary sources.
Example:
A research paper on the history of comic books might include:
Primary sources, such as interviews with editors from the industry, artists, and writers.
Secondary sources, such as books, magazine articles, and newspaper articles on the subject.
You need to evaluate each source individually. This is covered in Chapter 10.
Some topics, in contrast, require one type of material more than the other.
Example:
A research paper on intelligence will likely use secondary sources; a paper on Vietnam, in contrast, might draw more on primary materials.
Basic Search Strategy
Before we get into how to use specific resources, let's cover the general guidelines for research. The following suggestions can make your task easier and less frustrating.
1. Use key words. Start by listing key words for your topic that you'll use to search for sources. This helps you focus your efforts right on your topic.
Example:
Key words for a research paper on Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wall-Paper" might look like this:
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins (author)
"The Yellow Wall-Paper" (title)
Mental illness (a topic in the story)
Nineteenth-century medicine (another important topic)
Feminism (a movement that embraced this story)

 

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2. Include related words. As you list your key words, think of synonyms that you can use to expand or narrow your search.
Example:
If the topic of your research paper is overcrowding in national parks, you might include some of these synonyms:
Environmentalism
Wilderness
National monuments
Conservation
Federal lands
Government lands
Each helps you locate useful source materials.
Can't think of any synonyms or related terms for your research topic? Check the Library of Congress Guide to Subject Headings. This set of reference books identifies the subject headings used by the Library of Congress. It can help you find key words as well as related terms.
3. Learn the lingo. Nearly every research tool has an abbreviation–or two!
Examples:
The Dictionary of Library Biography is abbreviated as DLB.
Something About the Author is called SATA.
You can learn the abbreviations for print sources by checking the introduction or index. For on-line sources, check the Help screen.
4. Know your library. All libraries offer some special services. Many libraries get books, newspapers, and magazines for you through interlibrary loans. While libraries rarely charge for these services, they take time—often as long as two to four weeks. See your reference librarians when you start researching so that you know which special services are available, their cost (if any), and the time involved.
5. Consult reference librarians. After reading this guidebook, you should be able to locate nearly every ref-

 

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erence source you need on your own. Once in a while, however, you might get stumped. Maybe you're tired; perhaps you're in an unfamiliar library.
Whatever the reason, when you have a research question that you can't answer on your own, turn to the reference librarians. They are the experts on research methods and their job is to help you find what you need. In addition, they are very well educated. Most librarians in colleges and universities, for example, are required to have earned two master's degrees, one in Information Retrieval Methods (Library Science) and one in a subject area (such as English, history, math, and so on).
Checklist of Sources
The following list summarizes the sources available. Skim it now. As you research, return to the list to help you use a range of sources.
_____ Almanacs
_____ Archival materials (rare books, charts, maps, etc.)
_____ Atlases
_____ Audio-visual materials
_____ Books
_____ Encyclopedias
_____ Essays
_____ Government documents
_____ Indexes
_____ Interviews
_____ Magazines
_____ On-line sources
_____ Pamphlets
_____ Primary sources (letters, diaries, etc.)
_____ Reviews of books, movies, plays, and TV shows
_____ Surveys
_____ Yearbooks

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