Honors American Government & Politics: Landmark Legislation Research Paper: *FIRST REF SOURCES*

START YOUR RESEARCH WITH REFERENCE SOURCES

for ESSENTIAL background information - facts like WHO, WHAT, WHY, WHERE, and HOW - that will be useful as you dive deeper into your research.

THINK ENCYCLOPEDIAS!

• This will allow you to better understand where the specific information you find later fits in the bigger picture.

• Make note of terms - also called KEYWORDS - relevant to your topic:

  • Examples: names of people; important dates; relevant legislation; words or expressions unique to your topic.

• You can use these keywords when searching for secondary sources (books and journal articles) and primary sources. 

• Reference sources often contain bibliographies that lead you to secondary and primary sources.

Examples of Reference Sources: Encyclopedias, dictionaries, almanacs, atlases, thesauruses, and indexes.