As a researcher, you're a detective, putting sources and evidence together to create a full picture. Good research takes time, effort, and practice, but you'll get better the more you do it! My tips:
- Start early
- Run a couple keyword searches (such as the title of your work and author)
- Use limiters, especially date and peer-review
- Look in multiple databases
- Look at multiple pages
- Keep track of your citations and sources
- If you find a source you might use but you aren't sure, grab the citation anyway. It's way easier to cut sources you don't need then try to add sources in later.
- If you find reviews online (such as on Amazon), check to see if the come from a book review journal. Many do, and the library has access to several such journals, such as Booklist, Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly, and Library Journal.
- Ask questions! Chat with the library, email me, or set up a one-on-one Zoom appointment.
For technical issues:
- Your login is the UTM Portal username and password, same thing you use to login to anything related to UTM
- If you run into tech issues, try clearing your cookies, cache, or history
- Try a different browser
- Restart or update your laptop
- Contact the Help Desk at (731) 881-7900