"Perhaps the most valuable result of all education is the ability to make yourself do the thing you have to do, when it ought to be done, whether you like it or not..."
-Thomas Henry Huxley

The Seven Steps of the Research Process

1. Identify and develop your topic.  State your ideas as a question. Then identify the main concepts or keywords in you question.
   
2. Find background information.  Read articles in general encyclopedias (World Book, Britannica...) to set the context for your research.  Encyclopedia Britannica
   
3. Use your library online card catalog to find its holdings of pertinent materials.
   
4. Use indexes to find periodical articles.  Find periodical articles by subject or keyword in EBSCO.
   
5. Find internet resources.
   Use search engines (www.alltheweb.com / www.google.com / www.yahoo.com) to locate materials on the Web. Ask if your class has any pre-selected web cites for you to use.
   
6. Evaluate what you find.  Analyze your information sources and eliminate the non-scholarly items. For a checklist to evaluate the authority and quality of a resource click here.
   
7. Cite what you find using a standard format.  Cite your sources. Knowingly representing other's work as your own is plagiarism.  Refer to these handy examples: MLA Quick Reference Guide or MLA Website Citation Examples.