Getting Started With Research:
Finding Information

Now that you have a topic to research and some keywords to try, it's time to figure out where you're going to start your search. The best place to find scholarly materials is through Library Services. The library offers you a lot of different types of materials, both digital materials that are available online and physical materials that are available in the Learning Commons. Some of our digital and physical sources include:

• Books and ebooks
• Streaming video and DVDs
• Articles from scholarly journals
• Articles from newspapers and magazines
• Much more!

So how do you get to this stuff? The Library Services website lets you search for many types of materials at once. Try the Quick Search box below to start looking!

If you are looking for a particular subject area or source type, try going directly to a recommended library database. Library Services subscribes to over 100 different databases that each serves a different purpose. Browse the Database list to read descriptions of the various databases available to you, and try using the All Subjects drop-down menu to find the best databases for your subject area.

Library Services offers so many choices for so many topics that it can sometimes be overwhelming. That's why the librarians have created Research Guides! Each guide focuses on a different subject: Most majors, minors and concentrations offered at Springfield College have their own guides, as do some specific classes. The guides narrow down the library's resources to those that will be most useful for that subject.