The Research Processd: Locating Information OWH Library at Phillips Academy Andover

Oliver Wendell Holmes Library
Catalog	Resource Guides	Databases	What's New

Locating Information

Steps in the Research Process

Get Organized!
Gather information
Use the Information
Take time to Reflect

Lots of energy goes into the "front end" of the research process. Having completed the time-consuming and difficult process of identifying and focusing a topic, and locating and evaluating appropriate sources of information, you may be tempted to breathe a sigh of relief and start looking for the end of the tunnel. But a very important task lies between you and a successful conclusion to your project -- actually using the information in all those sources.

Digging Out the information: The approach that you take will vary according to the source. The table that follows suggests ideas for interacting with various source types:

Source Type	How to locate and comprehend information within a source.
Print book	Using the Parts of a Book Using an index for information Using the Table of Contents
Print periodical	Finding Journal and Magazine Articles Skim, paying attention to article organization. Pay particular attention to sidebars, charts, etc.
Electronically accessed book or periodical article.	Copy the text into Microsoft Word and use the find command to identify occurrences of your main search terms.
Web page	How to find excellent information on the Internet Assuming that you have evaluated the page and determined that it is a good source, check the page organization for possible links to subtopics. Use the search capability of the page (if available) to identify specific information.
Primary Source	Use caution! The language may be archaic and difficult to understand. Have a dictionary handy. Be alert to the possibility of bias. It is often helpful to read background material in secondary sources first.