Welcome to the [SUBJECT] Research Guide
This guide is designed to kickstart student research in [SUBJECT] by highlighting key resources, databases, and strategies in the discipline.
[SUBJECT] Key Resources
The following are some best bets for starting [SUBJECT] research. For a full list of databases at Oberlin, check out our Databases A-Z.
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Web of Science This link opens in a new window
Scholarly literature in the sciences, health and medicine, social sciences, arts, and humanities and proceedings of international conferences, symposia, seminars, colloquia, workshops, and conventions. Includes cited reference searching across many databases. Search all databases in Web of Science (includes Medline and BIOSIS, direct link for on-campus users). Dates of coverage: 1965 to present.
Search Strategy
Here is a good, basic formula for getting started with your research:
- Begin by narrowing down your topic and developing an initial research question.
- Use the keyword brainstorming worksheet to help you tweak your research question, identify keywords and related terms, and keep track of what you find.
- Use Search.Libraries to find books and reference sources. These sources will:
- provide BACKGROUND and CONTEXT
- REVIEW and SUMMARIZE earlier work
- help you FOCUS your topic and
- provide CITATIONS to important books, journal articles, conference papers, interviews, etc.
- Next, search research databases to find articles. The library has hundreds of databases; those listed on this guide are good places to begin.
- You may also wish to use Google Scholar to search the Internet. This is a great tool for doing cited reference searches.
Annotated bibliography resources
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Annotated bibliography tip sheetThis sheet helps you to understand what an annotated bibliography is, explains your job as a researcher as you compile it, and gives some helpful questions to consider along the way.
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Annotated bibliography worksheet (Fillable PDF)This worksheet is designed to help you ask and answer questions as you're reading each document that you're considering. It also gives you some practice distilling that information down into a brief summary.
Literature review resources
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Literature Review Tip SheetThis page explains what it is/its purpose, strategies for approaching it, and questions to consider along the way.
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Literature review worksheet (Fillable PDF)This tool helps you examine each source that you are considering including in your annotated bibliography or literature review. Also gives you a chance to practice your critical evaluation skills by writing a brief appraisal of each source.
Related Research Guides
Here are some other guides that may be useful for your research: