Researching a topic

The following information describes how to research a topic at the Sterling C. Evans Library at Texas A&M University.

General research guidance, in my opinion, is probably the most difficult and worthwhile reference service. It's difficult to be prepared for every question, and it's a real help if you have a question to receive an answer!

Some options for doing research are:

Start with keyword searches on NOTIS or an Internet online search.

One way of using the keyword search is to

• start with a general keyword search and identify relevant items
• find the significant Library of Congress Subject Headings from the relevant items
• do further searching based on those subject words - The search could be a direct subject search, or you can use the words from the subject terms to construct new keyword searches. For example, if two significant subject terms were

  Legislative History--Texas--Original Sources
  and
  Judicial Oversight--Cases--District Courts

  You could type a keyword search such as

  k=legislative and history and judicial and district courts

  to seek to combine the results of items that might have information relevant to both of the subject terms. Please see the footnote about the heuristic nature of these guidelines.

Find a good general reference, and use it to find additional references.

Use the Library CD-ROM databases and on-line databases.

Search the Internet.

The heuristic nature of these guidelines
Webster's Third New International Dictionary (1981) defines heuristic as being from a Greek word meaning "to discover". It means providing aid or direction in the solution of a problem but otherwise unjustified or incapable of justification and also of or relating to exploratory problem-solving techniques that utilize self-educating techniques (as the evaluation of feedback).

A heuristic method is one that is not ensured to work every time, and it is modified as needed to accomplish a task.

Some of the research guidelines above depend on evaluating the results of particular steps of the process, and the evaluation depends on experience with keyword searches and some knowledge of the kind of words used in library bibliographic records. That means that knowing how to do these searches depends on knowledge of the particulars of the process. Nevertheless, if the process is understood, it should provide some help in using the on-line catalog for research.

List of how to do things at the Library

Last revised May 26, 1997 by JPF