In this chapter, Brundage goes into the importance of using library catalogues in order to find credible sources in a wide variety of different mediums. Its funny how many of my teachers used to stress this all throughout high school but I never really began to utilize this until college. Its amazing the books, articles, movies, etc. you can get your hands on by using the library catalogues. One of the more important points Brundage makes is about having the right topic before you begin your research. Like he says, searching for 19th century imperialism is going to bring back hundreds of different results, its way too broad. However, if you go into your research with a refined topic that gets you only maybe 20 results, you are so much better off.
Later on in the chapter Brundage talks about keeping a running bibliography going with flash cards. That way, no matter where you go to for your homework or research you will always have your sources and a way to find them. Its much better than trying to keep track of the title and author of every single source you come across. Also, I think this idea is such a useful one because on each card you can write a little bit about the source. So when you look at each card you can see exactly what you plan on using that source for.
Questions: What are some ways you can use an online library database to refine your topic?
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