• By identifying minor concepts in your topic you focus your search to the most appropriate material. The minor concepts are the parameters that limit your topic to a specific aspect of the broader ideas. Categories to consider:
  • geographic area (severe weather in the Great Plains or Oklahoma or tornado alley)
  • age group (investment strategies of Generation X)
  • species (medical information about humans not including studies that are performed using rats)
  • ethnicity (culinary traditions of immigrants to American from Eastern Europe)
  • time period (clothing styles of Colonial America)

• Creating a list of synonyms for describing your topic is always a good practice. This step is critical when you are searching electronic sources for information. Would other people use:
  • singular/plural terms (e.g. cat or cats).
  • synonyms/similar terms (e.g. cat or bobcat or lynx)
  • common/scientific terms terms (e.g. bobcat or lynx lynx or lynx rufus).
  • broader/narrower terms (e.g. lynx rufus and lynx lynx are narrower than lynx which is narrower than felidae which is narrower than fissipeda which is narrower than carnivore which is narrower than mammal).

• If you are doing research for an assignment, are there specific requirements for your information sources? If you are doing research for personal interest, are there types of sources that would by default have more appropriate information? Some criteria to consider:
  • publication date (only information published within the last five years)
  • publication language (only information published in English)
  • quantity (need five books and five articles)
  • type of source (articles from popular magazines or from scholarly journals or chapters from books or papers presented at conferences)

Dictionaries provide an understanding of terminology and sometimes suggest synonyms or related terms.

• General Language dictionaries provide definitions of words. Check your library catalog or ask a librarian to help you to find appropriate sources. A few examples:
  
  • Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary
  • A Web of Online Dictionaries provides links to more than 800 dictionaries
• Foreign Language / Polyglot or Multilingual / Translation dictionaries provide translations for terms in one or more languages. Check your library catalog or ask a librarian to help you to find appropriate sources. A few examples:
  
  • Allwords.com searches in English, Dutch, French, German, Italian, and Spanish.
  • LOGOS -- Multilingual E-Translation Portal translates into over 40 languages
• Subject Specific dictionaries provide definitions of technical or jargon terms that are specific to a particular field. Check your library catalog or ask a librarian to help you to find appropriate sources. A few examples:
  
  • Grove Art Online
  • Creative Music Online Dictionary of Musical Terms
  • Equine Multilingual Dictionary
  • Glossary of Medieval Art and Architecture
  • The Weather Glossary

• General Knowledge encyclopedias provide overviews of a wide variety of topics, are not particularly technical, and are written in an easy to read style. A few examples:
  • Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia
• General Scholarly encyclopedias provide information that can be more in depth and technical than a general overview and are often written with a more sophisticated style. A few examples:
  • Encyclopedia Smithsonian
• Subject Specific encyclopedias often provide both overviews and in depth articles about very specific aspects of a field of study. A few examples:
  • Agripedia
  • Internet Encyclopedia

Accessibility Legend
	Resource available via the Internet to everyone free of charge.
	Resource available via the Internet to the Oklahoma State University community (faculty, staff, and students), Stillwater campus. These resources may be available to other users depending upon permissions from their home institution.
	Resource available via CD-ROM at public workstations in the Oklahoma State University Library. These resources may be available to other users depending upon resources at their home institution.
	Resource available in print at the Oklahoma State University Library. All call numbers refer to this library. These resources may be available to users at other locations.