Locating Information

Information Sources

Books - both print and digital
Magazine and Journals (Magazines are written for the general public whereas journals are written for specific fields of research and experts.)
Newspapers
Informational Books
Reference Books (encyclopedias, dictionaries, collective biographies)
Websites (Be very careful!)
Databases (the most reliable electronic resource)
Interviews
Podcasts
Video and Film
Artifacts
Diaries and Letters

Primary Sources - those sources created during the actual event. Examples include things like diaries, photographs, casualty lists, speeches, and oral histories.
Secondary Sources - those sources created later by someone who did not witness or participate in the event firsthand. Examples include things like newspaper and magazine articles.
Tertiary Sources - those sources that provide a very small or indexed amount of information. They should not be used for scholary reserach. Examples include encyclopedias, dictionaries, atlases, Wikipedia, and textbooks

Google is still the go-to for most student research. If you are going to "Google It" be smart about it and use Google's Advanced Search features.

Use the following Boolean operators to refine your search results.

NOT (-) using the word NOT or a minus sign will elimate terms from your search results

example: vikings NOT football will eliminate all football results

example: cars OR automobile will look for both the word car and the word automobile

example: "World War II" will look for pages that have these words exactly as you type them

SITE:edu/com/org/gov will look for search results from specfic domains or from specific sites

example: SITE:edu will only return results from educational domains

You can combine these operators to get more relevant results.

example: "World War II" or "World War 2" weapons SITE:edu NOT tanks

For more search operators, check out this list from Google.

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