Skip to Main Content Library Homepage College Homepage
Research Guides

The Research Process: A How-To Guide: 2. Find Background Information

This guide walks you through the seven steps of the research process.

Ask a Librarian

Contact the Reference Desk

email Email askanselm@anselm.edu
Chat Chat
smartphone Text (603) 556-8883
 phone Call (603) 641-7306
calendar Make an Appointment

 

Reference Desk Hours

Sunday CLOSED
Monday 8:30AM - 4:30PM
Tuesday 8:30AM - 4:30PM
Wednesday      8:30AM - 4:30PM
Thursday 8:30AM - 4:30PM
Friday 8:30AM - 2:00PM
Saturday CLOSED

*Closed on holidays

Intro

Once you have developed your topic and identified relevant keywords, you should begin your research by consulting reference resources. 

The most common reference resources are:

  • encyclopedias
  • dictionaries
  • handbooks
  • companions

Try keyword searches of relevant online e-reference resources, or look up your keywords in the index volumes of print encyclopedias.

Why use reference resources?

These resources will help you accomplish the following:

  • Learn the basic facts about people, places, events, and ideas related to your topic
  • Understand the broader context of your research topic
  • Identify key terms or phrases that you can search as keywords in the library catalog and journal databases
  • Discover the names of books and articles worth looking for, by consulting the bibliographies at the end of reference articles