W 101: What Is Science? A Historical Perspective

1.) BREAK YOUR TOPIC INTO SEVERAL KEYWORDS AND CREATE SEARCH STRINGS (YOU WILL NEED TO CONSTRUCT MULTIPLE SEARCHES)

I wish to explore the scientific evidence for global warming.

Are other terms used? What about climate change?

Are you talking about historical changes or over the course of geological time?

Are you interested in varied policy viewpoints or simply data?

(Global warming OR climate change) AND political policy

(Global warming OR climate change) AND ancient earth

"Global temperature" AND measurement

2.) USE THE REFERENCE WORKS TAB TO FIND AN ENCYCLOPEDIA OR DICTIONARY ENTRY ON YOUR TOPIC

This will list citations for books and journal articles, as well as help you formulate your thesis.

3.) SEARCH THE LIBRARY CATALOGS WITH YOUR KEYWORDS

* pay attention to subject headings

4.) SEARCH THE DATABASES WITH YOUR KEYWORDS

* pay attention to subjects

5.) DEVELOP THESIS FROM COLLECTED SOURCES OR START PROCESS OVER AGAIN WITH NEW TOPIC

Welcome!

We're glad you're here. You've made the first step in delving into research at Denison.

What do you need to know?

First thing is that you will need to plan ahead. Research can take time, including building in time for getting materials. There are many books and articles available directly within the library or online through the library, but some things will need to be requested. Make sure you build in time for getting books from other libraries through CONSORT or OhioLINK. It will take about 3 days to get them delivered to you. You will get an email when they arrive at our circulation desk for pickup.