Literature  

Before you start, ask yourself these questions:

1. What is my topic?  You can take some time to explore this and narrow it down.

2. What type of information am I looking for?  Books, articles, websites?

 3. How much information do I need? How long is the paper or presentation and how many citations do you need?

4. Do I need scholarly information?    There are ways to limit to scholarly material.

Your answers will help determine where and how to start your research.  In fact, much of the information you need is in this Eng. 102 guide --click on the tabs and see what's here.

Look at our guide for Eng 101.  That includes many of the basics you need to write a research paper. 

Reading how other people, especially people with deep knowledge and understanding of literature, have analyzed or understood a piece of literature will help you clarify and enlarge upon your own views.  The criticism or review may bring something to your attention that you did not notice.  You may disagree with a point made, which will help you clarify your views.  Reading reviews and criticism can help guide you to become a closer, more careful reader. (Thanks to Austin Community College for some of these ideas.)

Tips and Examples (Perdue Writing Lab)