About This Guide

This library research guide has been designed for students in Dr. Ethan Goldberg's class, Expos 20: Breaking the Norm. Consult it to help you brainstorm a topic for your research proposal and to locate, select, and use source materials for your annotated bibliography and essay 3.

 Your scholarly source base will likely include some combination of:

  • articles from "peer reviewed" or "refereed" journals, written by credentialed authorities;
  • chapters from book-length studies on your subject or related to it in a meaningful way; or
  • collections of research essays, often by various experts and published together in book form.

Primary sources may also figure into the mix of materials you'll need to find, at least for some of you. Primary sources serve as evidentiary exhibits of a given phenomenon under study.

  • Items in this category might include a news articles, advertisements, posters, proverbs, etc. The novel or film you're examining is also a primary source. 

The sections of this guide identify some of the main routes to secondary (scholarly) sources, along with some strategies for working effectively and efficiently with library resources of all shapes and forms, including background materials and primary sources. To better conceptualize the role of sources in academic writing, see:

If you don't find what you need here, or when questions (large or small) about finding sources arise, reach out to me! My contact information is at left. Additionally, other librarians are always ready to work with you: via email, on chat, over Zoom, or in person in Lamont or Widener.

Enjoy your research adventure!