Starting Your Research

A critical part of successful research is understanding your topic. Think about the subject about which you are writing. Use sources of background information such as encyclopedias to learn some basic details and get an idea about where you might find additional information on the topic.

No matter what topic you are writing about, the Western Libraries Program pages can help.  Those subject guides bring together the best resources on each subject.  Choose the subject page most appropriate for your project. Each program page also gives you contact information so that you can get further help should you need it.

Another good starting point is the Shared Library Catalogue.  This database lets you find books on your topic in any campus library location including the libraries at the affiliate University Colleges (King's, Huron, Brescia). 

Keeping Track of Your Research:

Everyone has their own methods for keeping track of  their research.  If you are looking for ways to streamline the process, you might want to try some of the tools that Western Libraries provides.

My Library Account: You can log in to your Library Account with your Western e-mail username and password to save searches that you have done in the Shared Library Catalogue or see a list of the books that you have signed out (My Reading History).

RefWorks: This web-based bibliographic managment system lets you save relevant references in folders and create bibliographies using a wide variety of citation styles.  To begin using RefWorks, you need to create an individual account. For more information, see http://refworks.scholarsportal.info/tutorial/.

Getting Help:

The Western Libraries web site has a list of tutorials that are designed to help you with all the steps of the research process. You will also find that article databases generally have a help or support feature that will guide you through basic searches and help you with specific features of the resource.

If you need additional assistance, please contact the Research Help Service in The D.B. Weldon Library.