The Quest for Utopia: ENG 0824

Reference works -- like encyclopedias, handbooks, and dictionaries -- provide great overviews and background information. 

• They help you contextualize your topic and generate questions.
• They help identify keywords you can use later when searching for scholarly sources. 
• They contain bibliographies that lead you to the most respected secondary and most useful primary sources on a topic.

In short, reference works are a great way to begin your research. 

Need to look up a name, place, term, or event?  The sources below contain many different kinds of encyclopedias and dictionaries and are excellent starting points for getting an overview on your topic as well as possible search terms to use later. Try them.

When you have chosen a topic, it's time to ask some questions. 

Applying the 5 W's -- who, what, when, where, why, and how -- to your topic can help you begin to find a more focused issue within that topic that will work well for your assignment.

Try visualizing your topic to explore all of the different angles, ideas, and key concepts related to your topic. This is a good brainstorming exercise and can also help focus your topic into a research question.

The tools below can help you visualize your topic.