Research like a pro! Start by finding one good book or article on your research topic--ideally one published as recently as possible. Then, comb through the bibliography and footnotes to see what sources the author has used. There's a great chance you'll find more sources related to your own topic with this approach. Then, head to the Libraries' website and see if we have them--and if not, request them via Delivery.
It's also possible to get a sense of who has subsequently cited the book or article you found. Maybe the book you found is great, but it was published in 2010, and you want to know how scholars have built off of it in the mean time. Many research databases have a built-in feature to see who has cited an item, as does Google Scholar. Try putting in the name of a book at Google Scholar and then checking out the "Cited By" link. It's not a perfect strategy, but it can definitely help!
This process of using one information source to go backward and forward in time to find other citations is known as citation chaining.
Using Quick Search to Find Resources
Books are one of the main ways students of English communicate information about a topic. If you are working on an assignment for an English class, you are more than likely going to need to rely on books as well as articles and shorter sources of information. Books will often be your best bet for finding both breadth and depth of coverage on a topic.
A comprehensive catalog of materials currently available in libraries worldwide. Includes books, internet resources, journals, conference papers, maps, manuscripts, music scores, sound recordings, and video recordings. Items found in WorldCat can be requested through the UNL Libraries Delivery/Interlibrary Loan service. (Index)
Check out this tutorial for learning more about why and how to use WorldCat.
