An Introduction to Research Processes

After you’ve defined your research question, you should begin compiling a working bibliography, a detailed list of books and articles you plan to consult. Your working bibliography is a tool that will change and grow as you find new sources, eliminate others, and shift the focus of your research. It has two purposes:

1. to guide you in your research by recording which sources you've examined and which you intend to examine
2. to help you document the final paper by recording detailed information about each source.

Your preliminary search should have given you a good rough notion of where your most promising material lies. Now you need titles and other publication information.

To read more about developing a working bibliography, click on the items below:

• Recording Publication Information
• Creating Source Notes for Books
• Creating Source Notes for Periodicals
• Creating Source Notes for Electronic Sources
• Creating Source Notes for Field Sources
• Citing Your Sources