Based on the research strategy discussed in the video "Primary, Secondary & Tertiary Sources"  we've learned that research should begin with tertiary sources.

Tertiary sources give researchers a broad overview of their topic. 

• What is the context of this subject--what preceded it and what did it affect? 
• Who were the major players?
• What terminology is used to describe this?  In historical research, this may be a term that is considered obsolete or in another language.  (For example, in the 1920's they didn't call the war fought in 1916-1917 "The First World War."

An excellent source of tertiary information is:

Types of Sources

Information is created and shared in many formats, but how do we go from a current event to an entire book about that event? Understanding the progression of information will help you determine which type of source is most appropriate for your research. 

Information Cycle

Used with the permission of UW Green Bay Libraries

Google is great for capturing the information that comes out immediately after an event in the news, press releases, and on social media.  It is even pretty good for capturing the newspaper articles and some of the magazines that are published in the following weeks.  What Google does less well is to capture the academic information that is published some time after the event.  Library databases are designed to find this type of information.