Getting Started

To avoid logging in each time you switch databases or E-Journals, activate an IUPUI VPN connection.  You can establish a VPN regardless of how you are accessing the internet (Dial-Up Modem / DSL / Cable Modem). 

Perhaps the hardest part of research is deciding what you need to find.  The questions below will help you start thinking about the kinds of information you need and where to look for it. 

• Review your assignment.  Does your assignment specify what types of sources you need to use?
  • Books
    • Provide in-depth, detailed coverage and background information
  • Articles from academic / scholarly / peer-reviewed journals
    • Provide information that is up-to-date and

• Brainstorm potential topics
  • Think about what you’re interested in. 
  • Ask faculty and fellow students for suggestions, and check encyclopedias and textbooks for ideas as well. 
• Find background information
  • If you're not already pretty familiar with your tentative topic, you may need to find out more about it before you go much further.
• Narrow or broaden your topic
  • Too broad: World War I
    • Read more
    Last updated by andjsmit on 02/06/2009