4 Bigger brain is good
Great, your brain is growing already. Do you know about online “academic” books? Many of the books in college libraries are written by researchers and scholars. They are somewhat different from many of the books in public or high school libraries.
Why are books useful for research?
- Books (or book chapters) are helpful at the beginning of learning about a topic.
- Books (or book chapters) give a big overview and help give context around an issue.
- Side note: reference databases help with this, too! Articles in our reference databases are like Wikipedia entries. They help provide you with a foundational understanding of your topic and are a great place to start your research. Some of our favorites are College – Gale in Context, CultureGrams, and Issues & Controversies.
- Journal articles are often very specific and only talk about one aspect of a bigger topic.
- You usually don’t need to read the whole thing (#OMGWayTooLong) — instead pick one of the most relevant or interesting chapters. It is basically the same length as an article. Then “cite” the chapter in your bibliography.
Choose an option to move forward.
