How to Research

This guide is designed as a place to help you get started on your research. Select any tab on the left side navigation for help along your research process. Please contact a Harper College librarian if you need any additional assistance. 

The Harper College Library has a wide variety of information resources to help you succeed. Before you begin research for an assignment, it's important to know your research requirements. For example, you might be limited to certain sources (e.g. articles from scholarly journals) or more recently published information (e.g. within the last five years). When in doubt, always ask your instructor for clarification. 

The Library provides access to newspapers, scholarly journals, popular magazines, streaming media, books, and professional trade publications, all of which are important for college-level research.  These resources can be found by searching within the library's website.

• One Search - A one stop search for almost all electronic and print resources. Think of it as Google for library resources.
• Catalog - Search the library's physical collection as well as streaming books and videos. 

Both of these resources can be found on the main page of the Library website (see image below). 

• Databases - A searchable collection of information. We have access to many that you can find here. Many of the databases have subject specific information and can be a great place to start to find scholarly articles on a specific topic. 

To learn more about databases, watch the video below.