• First you need to think about the rhetorical situation, the audience, and the purpose of the writing you will be doing. The answers to these questions will in large part determine your research.
• Formulate an idea or question about your issue before you start. This will help with several common problems. First it will prevent you from being overly influenced by others writings, and falling into the trape of just quoting others without doing your own analysis. Second, and just as important, you need to narrow your focus before you start. In fact, the more specific you can be the more successful you will be in your search.
• First focus on current works and note what books or articles they reference. If you find somthing that is referenced in several places, then you have an idea about what you should read.
• Keep track of everything: write down the books, authors, titles, bookmark pages, download articles. Take meticulous notes before your research gets out of hand and you cant remember where you found something and you spend hours looking for a piece you sort of remember reading three weeks ago but can't remember where.
• Keep in mind no work is neutral, everything has a slant. Pay attention to the ideological frame of the piece.
  

The Web
The Web is a great resource, and more often than not, it is right at you finger tips. However, it doesn't contain all the information that you can find at a library or through library online resources. In other words, don't expect to that you can limit your search to what is on the Internet. Remember that the web is one of many available resources and cannot necessarily provide you with all the research you need.

Determining Authenticity
One of the many benefits of using libraries is that librarians have done the work of determining the reliability and credibility of the various resources available. When doing research on the web, you need to establish the authenticity and credibility of material you locate.

• Pay attention to the content of the page. See who the sponsoring organization is, what type of credentials and expertise do they have, etc.
• Look at the end of the url. This gives you a hint about the authoring organization.
• Is the site documenting and referencing its sources?
• Keep in mind, this is all about context. The more you can find out the better, and if the site hides the contextual elements be wary.

Here are some sites that will help you determine the authenticity and credibility of the material you located on the web

The Google

• Google searches billions of pages, so in order to find what you need, you have to figure how to narrow your search.
• If you search for a broad term such as "immigration," you are likely to get way too many hits to ever look through. Instead try an advanced search and search only magazines, newspapers, and scholarly journals.
• Another option is Google Scholar. This is a much more narrow search and focuses on scholarly literature.

But, eventually you want to check out the various databases available through the web and through the ASU library.

The Invisible Web
The Web is an ever expanding universe. So, how do you get to the information that google web crawlers do not? How do you get to the “deep web” or the “invisible web”?

• Do a google search, but add the word database to your entry.
• Check out the Librarians Internet Index which is billed as"websites you can trust." You might also try this searchable directory of various databases on the Invisible Web.
• Still not finding what you are looking for? Check out this really helpful search tutorial from Lifehacker.
  

Databases
Electronic databases provide access to current and archived articles from scholarly journals, magazines, and national and regional newspaper articles. The databases may differ in the way that the screen looks or the type of information they store but essentially they all work on the same principles. Once you understand how databases work, you will be able to use almost any database. A database is a collection of records, stored on a computer, with information about different items. In library databases, these records represent information about books, book chapters, newspapers or magazine articles.

• There are a number of databases to choose from, but I recommend beginning with these three: EBSCOhost, JSTOR, and Project Muse.
• If you don't find what you are looking for there, ask a librarian or experts in what you are researching for recommendations.
• Keep in mind that the more general databases (EBSCHOhost, Lexis/Nexis) only include select journals, magazines, and newspapers. For that reason, these databases are best for beginning your research.
• You will need to consult a subject-specific index or database for advanced research.
• The ASU library database page offers both alphbetical search options if you know the name of the database you want, or subject area listings to choose from.
• Select the discipline in which you are researching, and you can see a list of recommended journals.