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Polymathic and Health Science Scholars - Wilcox

Getting Started With Your Literature Search

Beginning Your Literature Search

Getting started with your research for your senior thesis can be a daunting task. But, librarians are here to help. This guide has been designed to guide students through finding the best resources in their selected topic area. To get started, you'll need to form a good research question. Searching in the literature will help you to refine and perhaps narrow or expand that question. It's critical to be flexible with your research question and to view searching as a part of your inquiry. Here are some guidelines to keep in mind:

  • Define your question and generate some alternate terms (or synonyms) that may help you to locate more literature.
  • Use multiple databases. Not everything is contained in one database.
  • Consider your topic from an interdisciplinary perspective. You will likely want to represent both the education literature and the sociological literature if your question covers both areas.
  • Use the tools available to you:
    • Library databases and services to track down articles.
    • The Writing Center at UT.
    • Citation managers and other tools to support managing your research workflow.
    • One-on-one librarian consultations to help refine your question and uncover useful resources.

 

Library Assistance is Available

When you have a question about using the libraries or finding information, we hope that you will ask.

Each department has a librarian subject liaison and library staff across campus are available to help with using library materials.  The librarians prepare subject guides to help with finding information in that area.  Also, there are guides on special topics, including using the New York Times Online and Citation Managers for Research Organization.

These staff members are glad to try to help.  They can --- for example --- give specific recommendations on databases, talk about search terms, help with finding sources, and explain about library services.  You are welcome to send an e-mail, call, schedule an appointment, or stop by.

Library Chat help is available many hours during the week and can be a good way to get a question answered without delay.

Hannah Chapman Tripp

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Hannah Chapman Tripp
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Contact:
Life Sciences Library
MAI 224
512.495.4635

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