
2. Preparing your search: materials and resources
What type of material do you need and which are the most appropriate resources?
Bearing in mind what you learned in Unit 1 about the different sorts of resources and their uses, first:
- Consider the type of material you want to use.
- Consider which resources would be the most appropriate to use to find that type of material.
- Find out how to use those resources
For example:
If you need background information about a topic that is new to you, an encyclopaedia or textbook may the best source.
If you require more in-depth information about a research topic, a journal article or conference proceeding may be more appropriate.
You would normally use the library catalogue as a starting point for any search. You would then look at the library web site which gives you access to electronic resources such as databases and quality assessed websites.