Research and Information Literacy

• Leverage your passion and curiosity- enthusiasm about a topic will make everything easier. In order to avoid boredom, fatigue, and desperation seek ways to make your assignments relevant and your topics exciting. 

• Get familiar with the language (terminology) used by experts in the subject/field. Knowing key terms and synonyms will help you better represent and/or interpret your sources.

• Use library resources. Start on the BCCC Lester Library web page and use the catalog and databases. The open web is limited and unreliable. However, the open web can be used for lateral reading and cross referencing when doing critical evaluations of a resource.

• Draft an outline to organize and/or visualize your topic themes, thoughts, and/or methodology. Adjust your scope with categorization and prioritization.

• Consider archives and search for primary sources related to your research topic. Engaging these can make your interpretations more direct, dynamic, & deep.

• Open multiple tabs (on your web browser) to regularly investigate links, items, and pages. This is easier than using the back/forth arrows on only one or two tabs. To be successful in finding what you need, always be willing to investigate further.

• Cite! Keep a list of bibliographic notes (citations) for potential relevant sources as you discover them. Finalizing these sources will come as you write. Building your citation list (works cited/references) early on will save you time and stress and keep you organized. Use APA, CMS/Turabian, or MLA citation styles (see linked websites or the library for guidance).

From McMaster University Library