Recommended Strategy to Begin Your Research
Begin your research by reading some background information about your topic. CredoReference gives you access to many excellent reference resources such as the New Encyclopedia of the American West. Make a list of key people, dates, and terms relating to your topic. Check out the facets of your topic using the Mind Map tool on CredoReference. You can see an example of what a Credo Mind Map looks like below.
Once you have studied the background of your topic, locate primary and secondary sources with which to write your paper.
| Tip: Start your research with secondary sources. See which primary sources were used by the authors of the secondary sources, and then try to track them down. |
Determine other types of primary sources to use:
Here is an example of a Credo Mind Map. This map is a way to explore concepts and perhaps find related subjects that may be of interest to you. You can create these maps in our CredoReference database.
You can also find CredoReference in the Databases list from the Doane Library web page: http://www.doane.edu/library