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Astronomy

STEM Librarian

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Erin Anthony
Contact: Website

Feedback, please!

If you attended a class instruction session on library research from me, or met with me for an individual consultation, I would very much appreciate it if you would give me your feedback on how it helped you, so that I can improve my support of student research. 

Please give me your feedback by filling in this brief form.  Thanks.

Welcome!

The aim of this guide is to direct you to useful and relevant resources for your research in astronomy, including:

  • background info on your topic
  • articles in scholarly, peer-reviewed journals
  • books in print and online
  • information about saving and citing your references

 

 

 

   

Where to start: books, articles or the Web?

The best place to begin your research will depend on the topic you are researching, and the type of information you need.

  • Books are useful if you want a broad overview of a subject, or an in-depth survey, or if you're writing on a historical topic where the facts have not changed a huge amount over time. The information in books is often not as current as that in journal articles because of the length of time it takes to write and publish a book.
  • Articles are usually much narrower in scope than books, and have current information and up-to-date discussion of a topic. They are not so helpful if you need background information (although review articles that summarize recent research can be very useful).
    • Scholarly journal articles (and books) are peer-reviewed by other scholars and cite other scholarly sources.
    • Popular articles (e.g. in magazines and newspapers) are not peer-reviewed and are not as reliable as scholarly academic sources.
  • Web sites can provide good information including statistics, primary sources, opinions, and references to scholarly sources. However, it is very important to look carefully for information about the author and purpose of a Web site in order to evaluate its reliability.

Useful Links

Related Research Guides:

Astronomy News from Science Daily

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