Sometimes it is hard to pick a topic for your research.

1. Brainstorm. Think of at least five possibilities that fit the assignment.

2. Pick a topic that interest you. You'll be spending time reading and thinking about it, so it should be something that interests you.

3. Match your topic to the scope of the assignment.

4. Ask a question. This may not be necessary every time, but asking a question can be a helpful way to frame your research.

5. Make sure your topic fits the assignment. Reread the assignment and if you're not sure, check with your instructor.

Critically analyze information sources to evaluate the authority and quality of the books and articles you located. If you have found too many or too few sources, you may need to narrow or broaden your topic. Check with a librarian or your instructor.

• Who is the author?
• How current is the information?
• How in-depth is the information? Is it accurate?
• Can you see any bias?
• What is the domain?
• READ IT and THINK ABOUT IT

InfoHawk+ is the public interface to search the UI Libraries catalog, including our book and media collection, ebooks and journals titles, plus some of our most used and useful databases. You can find the books we own and the journals we subscribe to, but you can also find articles through some of our database subscriptions. 

What is included in InfoHawk+?

• The UI Libraries catalog

• Some but not all research databases and ebook packages, covering  nearly 1 billion records.

• Books and other material reserved for specific courses.

• Any webpages listed on our website or guides pages

• Iowa Research Online

• Iowa Digital Library

• Finding aids for Archives and Special Collections

• Catalog holdings of other Iowa colleges and Universities (Drake University, University of Northern Iowa, Wartburg College, Hawkeye Community College, Iowa State University, Grand View College, St. Ambrose University, and Grinnell College)

Use the tutorials below for guidance or ask a Librarian to learn more. 

Your friendly University of Iowa Librarians created these tutorials to help you learn how to use InfoHawk+ like a pro. If you have any questions, please ask a librarian.

When you quickly need items that are currently unavailable from the University of Iowa Libraries or are not owned by the Library, search UBorrow. UBorrow enables you to search for and request books directly from 15 major research libraries, with combined collections of more than 90 million volumes:

• University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• Indiana University
• University of Chicago
• University of Maryland
• University of Michigan
• Michigan State University
• University of Minnesota
• University of Nebraska
• Northwestern University
• Ohio State University
• Penn State University
• Purdue University
• Rutgers University
• University of Wisconsin-Madison
• Center for Research Libraries

UBorrow is a service of the Big Ten Academic Alliance, which is comprised of the universities of the Big Ten Conference plus the University of Chicago.