research
The LRC is designed specifically to provide you with the tools you need to find the information you need. There are many ways to source information for your research but the two main ways are using books and the internet. On this page you will find help on how to use both these resources effectively.
THE DEWEY CODEWhat is the Dewey Code and why do we have it?
To order non-fiction books by author would make it very difficult to locate a specific subject, as one author may write different books on different subjects - which would mean all the subjects would be mixed up! A rather clever man named Mr Dewey developed a numbering system for non-fiction books that categorises them by subject rather than author. This system is called the Dewey System and uses the Dewey Code. Each subject has been given a number range e.g. Science is 500-599. Below is a list of the Dewey Codes and the subjects that correspond to them. You can use this to find a book on the subject you are researching.
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Research tipsTrying to find specific information on a subject can be difficult, especially on the internet. Below are a few top tips in helping you access the information you are looking for:
What is you question?
Have a clear question in mind that you want to research. From this you can identify what you need to find out about. When using a book, look at the contents or index page Sometimes reading a whole book to find a paragraph of information is not the most effective way of researching. To locate more specific information on a topic, it is very useful to look at the contents page or index page first. The contents page is found at the beginning of the book and the index at the back. The contents outlines the main topics within the book with a range of page numbers and the index has an alphabetically ordered list of specific things mentioned in the book and what page they can be found on. Be selective Ask yourself whether the information you want to use is relevant. Summarise information Read the information you have found, decide whether it is relevant and then summarise it by noting down the key points from the text into bullet points or short sentences rather than just copy word for word. This will help you understand the information better and allow you to identify key points to research in more detail using another resource. Use a broad range of resources Using a few different websites and books is useful because they will demonstrate different viewpoints on the topic you are researching, which allows you to have a broader understanding of the topic. This is a good skill to have as if you go into further study, it is expected that you will use a wide range of resources to back up the argument you are presenting in essays. Documentaries, newspapers and museums are a good place to get information from too! Use Wikipedia as a starting point only Wikipedia is useful to get an overview of a topic but should not be the only website you use! Wikipedia can be edited by anyone which makes it an unreliable source (universities do not accept Wikipedia as a valid source in student essays). Instead use it to gather key words that you can search in Google or use the links at the bottom of the Wikipedia page (as these are the sources that page has used to gather information from, and will be more reliable). useful websites |