ULM Library LibGuides: Visual and Performing Arts: Research Tips

Refining and Developing Your Topic

Refining Your Topic
Developing Your Topic

Before you develop your research topic or question, you'll need to do some background research first.

Some good places to find background information:

Your textbook or class readings
Encyclopedias and reference books
Credible websites
Library databases

Library Databases for Background Research

Credo Reference
Credo Reference is a general reference solution for learners and librarians. Offering 551 hundred highly-regarded titles from over 70 publishers; Credo General Reference covers every major subject. Credo Reference is an online reference service made up of full-text books from the world's best publishers. It's a great source to consult when trying to determine a topic for your research paper.
Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia
The Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia database indexes over 25,000 records, covering an array of topics. Full text for each record may be easily accessed by double clicking on the topic from the display. The database contains various images, offers brief biographies as well as information in a variety of subject areas.
Naxos Music Library
Naxos Music Library [NML] is the world´s largest online classical music library. Currently, it offers streaming access to more than 186,302 CDs with more than 2,864,710 tracks of both standard and rare repertoire. Over 600 new titles are being added to the library each month.

The contents can be browsed by composer, artist, genre, category and label. In addition to listening to recordings, NML provides liner notes for many albums. Listeners can create personalized playlists or enjoy our predefined Naxos Music Library playlists.
Gale eBooks
Full-text reference books on topics including business, history, law, literature, philosophy, psychology, religion, science, travel, and more. Fully searchable and browsable.

Finding Sources

The types of sources you need to find will depend on the type of research project you are working on. Always read your assignments carefully, and contact your professor if you have questions regarding the types of sources you should be using!

To get started, visit the Find Articles & Databases, Find Books, or Find Websites pages to view recommended resources or see below for tips on evaluating a source's credibility and searching more effectively.

Evaluating Sources

Using quality, credible resources in your research is important, and there are many methods of evaluating resources. Choose the method that works best for you. Below is a handout on the CRAAP method for evaluating sources.

CRAAP Method

Use These Tips to Search for Articles in Databases

Use Boolean Connectors AND, OR, and NOT to refine your searches!

AND narrows a search (cats AND dogs)
OR broadens a search (cats OR dogs)
NOT excludes a term (dogs NOT puppies)

Use Truncation, Wildcards, and other Methods to Limit your Search!

Add an asterisk mark ( * ) to the end of a keyword to include its variations (e.g., librar* for library, libraries, librarian, librarians, librarianship etc.) in a search.
Use a question mark ( ? ) within words to search for single character variations (e.g., wom?n for woman or women).
Use quotation marks ( " " ) around words to create keyword phrases (e.g., "green marketing")
Check the database you are using for other ways to limit your search.