When starting a research project, it is helpful to find background sources that will give you an overview of a topic. For this class, you are allowed to use your textbook, which is an excellent source for definitions and basic knowledge on a topic. You can also find strong foundational information in encyclopedias by searching the library's catalog. Encyclopedias are considered Reference Sources. Your professor may not allow you to use an encyclopedia chapter as a resource in your paper; however, you can use the encyclopedia chapter to understand basic concepts, moving on to other books on the topic that you can use in your research paper.
Watch this brief video on how to use OneSearch:
Check out the Library Research: The Process for more help in starting your research paper.
Search the library catalog for print and online books.
Search for articles from periodicals (magazines, newspapers, and scholarly journals) in the following databases. From off campus, you will be prompted to log in with your Cougar Tracks username and password. Use keywords that you find in your textbook to help you locate articles on specific personality traits. Once you find books or articles on your topic, look for the subject terms for those sources, then use those terms to refine your search strategy.
The following databases include scholarly sources (as well as other types of sources). Academic OneFile is a multi-disciplinary database that offers additional articles that you will not find in EBSOChost databases.
To search multiple EBSCOhost databases, select ALL EBSCOhost from the list below, then selection the following databases from the list within EBSCOhost:
For tips, tricks, and details on searching databases, check out our Database library guide.