This guide is INACTIVE. Links to resources may be out of date. To view our current list of guides visit the Research Guides Home Page.
Gathering Background Information
It can be difficult to determine if a source you find will be a good fit for your research if you do not have a firm understanding of the topic itself.
Use background sources, like those listed below, to gather some basic preliminary information that will make it easier for you to evaluate the authority of an author, or the quality of a source.
A collection of reference resources in many subject areas.
Search hundreds of reference sources - dictionaries, bilingual dictionaries, thesauri, encyclopedias, quotations and atlases - for topic overviews and links to our other online resources. Includes mind map/concept map search feature.
Finding the Information You Need
Find print and electronic books plus videos, at McQuade and at North of Boston libraries. For tips on requesting, etc. see the NOBLE/Evergreen Guide.
Find information on hot social topics from opinion articles, topic overviews, full-text magazines, academic journals, news articles, primary source documents, statistics, images, videos, audio files and websites.
Find books, ebooks, streaming videos, DVDs, articles, reports and more from a wide selection of McQuade's databases, the Library Catalog and beyond.