Modern China

Write down what you already know. This may include:

• Pertinent dates
• Names of key players
• What issues led up to this issue?

Next, do a little background research to find out more or fill in the gaps in your existing knowledge, then dig deeper to find evidence to support your ideas.

Please email Sarah the Librarian if you need anything along the way.

Choose keywords and search terms wisely!

A good way to select keywords is to parse out your research question or topic. For instance, if your topic is the economic impact of rapid industrialization in China, your keywords might be:

• "rapid industrialization"
• economics
• China

Use quotes when you want to search for your search terms as a phrase.

Finding information in books can be a useful, but daunting aspect of the research process. For this paper, you do not need to use books. That said, if you are interested in using book sources, here are a few ways to tackle books to make them worth your while.

1. Use the index. I think the index is more important than the table of contents! it is located in the back of the book, and you can look for keywords that you collected during your background research.
2. Use the table of contents to find chapters that will be most relevant to your research.
3. Skim areas to find your keyword, then read the paragraph or surrounding pages to get more context.
4. You can even use Google Books or Amazon's Search Inside feature to search the full text of a print book that doesn't have a good index or table of contents.