Steps in Your Research
Image: The senators encircle Caesar, a 19th-century interpretation of the event by Carl Theodor von Piloty (source: wikicommons)
Steps in Your Research
- Read your initial text attentively, considering what information would put the writing in context and give you a fuller understanding of it.
- Think about what sorts of publications the information you need might be published in
- Look up background information in the reference materials, e.g., Credo Reference, encyclopedias, atlases and histories, etc.
- Use terminology and facts learned from background sources to search for articles in historical newspapers and periodical databases.
- Search for books (memoirs, collections of letters, biographies, diaries, special histories) in any of Colby's catalogs, expanding your search with subject linking
- Ask your librarian! kjgillum@colby.edu
Find Books and Media
- CBBcat - The Library Catalog of Colby, Bates & Bowdoin
Search for books, CDs, videos and more. - WorldCat
Search for books and other materials held in libraries worldwide. Order through ILLiad.
Searching Tips:
- Use quotes to glue a phrase together. E.g., "Milanese Design"
- Use an asterisk as a wild card to cover word variations. E.g., Urban* (for Urban, Urbanized, Urbanist)
- Broaden your search by using OR with parentheses. E.g., (Milan OR Italy). Results can contain either term.
- Narrow your search by using AND. E.g., Milan AND Florence. Results must contain both terms.
- Find one good item? Click on a record's Subject Headings to find similar material.
- Expand your reach, sign up for ILLiad, our Interlibrary loan service.
- Order directly from within WorldCat by clicking on Request through ILLiad@Colby.
CBBcat Subject Headings
Click on these links to find similar items. CBBcat uses Library of Congress Subject Headings. Unfortunately, these headings sometimes use outdated terminology, but once identified they can often provide much more precise search results than using keywords. Examples of LOC Subject Headings: