(Based on Cornell University's "Seven Steps of the Research Process")

1. Identify and develop your topic.
• It is usually helpful to state your topic as a question. For example: "What are the similarities and differences between the secondary education system in Britain and the United States?".
• Once you have identified your topic, brainstorm for all the keywords you can think of that are associated with your topic. In the above topic, keywords might include the following: similarities, differences, comparison, contrast, high schoool, secondary education, Britain, England, United Kingdom, United States.
2. Find background information.
• Look up your keywords in the indexes to subject encyclopedias and other reference books. These will give you some solid background information on your topic, and may also help you come up with other keywords to look for. Also pay attention to the bibliographies or list of references at the end of articles, as these may help you find other sources for your research.
3. Use ALCUIN (the library catalog) to find books.
• Use keyword searching for a narrow or complex search topic.
• Use subject searchingto help you narrow down a broad subject.
• Print out or write down the citation (author, title,etc.) and the location information (call number and library).
• Note the circulation status.
• When you pull the book from the shelf, USE THE INDEX AND TABLE OF CONTENTS to locate specific pages of useful information.
4. Use research databases or print indexes to find citations and abstracts for journal and newspaper articles.
   • You can find general article databases by clicking "ARTICLES" on the library home page.
   • For more subject-specific databases, click "RESEARCH BY SUBJECT" from the home page, select the subject of your class, and go to the research databases section of that page.
   • For additional help selecting periodical databases, ask at the Reference Desk.
   • If the article is not fulltext online in your database, check ALCUIN to see if Furman subscribes to the Journal, and if so, what format your volume is in (microfiche, microfilm, bound or current.) If we do not subscribe to the journal, check the list of journals that are fulltext online in our databases.
   • If you can't find it that way either, and you have a couple of weeks until the assignment is due, request it on interlibrary loan. Start your research EARLY to allow time for this process.
5. Find Internet resources, then track down the primary sources they are based on.
• If you can't find the original sources, be sure you evaluate the web sites carefully before deciding whether or not to use them in your project.
6. Evaluate ALL of your resources.
7. Cite what you find using a standard format.