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Once you've settled on the subject of your inquiry, you'll need to compile a "working bibliography" - a reading list of potential sources.
Here again, the database and article delivery services available on the internet or through the library - combined with a personal bibliographic program - can save you literally hours (maybe even days) of time. Some of the services provide abstracts for articles and books that will give you a pretty good idea of whether or not you should include the work in your reading list, sometimes you'll have to study the titles. If it looks promising, put it on your reading list. You can always delete it later. The same goes for suggestions from your colleagues (or teachers). A personal database program like Citation can be really useful during this stage, since it will help you keep all the information on your reading list in one place, and give you a headstart on the next phases (gathering research & citing sources). You can keep a Citation datafile open when you are browsing search results - then when you find an article or book you think would help your research, add a record with the basic bibliographic information for the work (author name, title, and, for periodicals, volume and page numbers). Type the word "read" in the keyword field, and copy the abstract (if there is one) to the abstract field. If the full text of the work is available online (in pdf or html format) - download it to your PC and enter a link to the file in the Citation record. If you don't have room on your PC, just enter a link to the web address for the full text. Some indexing services on the internet (ingenta, for instance) have an option that allows you to order a printed copy of an article to be faxed or sent to you. Printed copies are usually preferable to electronic copies. It is also possible to export search results to a file you can bring into your personal bibliographic database. If you do this, you'll want to remember to go back to those records and add the word "read" (particularly if your project has a wide scope) AND if you are working with books, you'll need to make sure the book you find is the same edition. When you've collected enough of a list to get started - use Citation to write out a reading list.
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