1	"Things your mother never told..." Things your mother never told you about writing papers… Literature reviews
2	"Spend time at the beginning..." Spend time at the beginning of your lit review to clarify your research topic. Determine your major concepts and potential search terms. Determine your approach – one good article/book, identifying the seminal researcher on the topic, etc..
3	"Contains all or most of..." Contains all or most of the major studies on your topic Relies on appropriate primary sources Secondary data or analysis is always a second choice. Find the original. Well-organized; clearly developed ideas Includes a needs statement – to justify the need for new research, or the need (or lack thereof) for changes in clinical practice Does not rely on a single source for data Gather corroborating data
4
5	"What is my topic" What is my topic? Be as specific as possible. What are my key words? What exactly do I want to explore? If this search flops, do I have an alternative subject? What are its terms?... Where do I need to go? Identify the sources you might use. Clue: Mental health is multi-disciplinary, and the type of material may range from empirical research to statutes.
6	"Which resources shall I use" Which resources shall I use? Which is likely to get me relevant, accurate, and current information on my topic? Maybe PsycINFO isn't good because I'm not examining any issues in a psychological manner. Maybe Sociofile is better because it's looking at the social issues? Do I want abstracts to evaluate or will I go look up citations in one of the other abstracting resources? Should I ask a librarian? How do I use these resources? Is there a special vocabulary they use? (probably yes). Is there a thesaurus on-line or in print I can use to select my terms? Does this resource use keyword (any phrase will do) or descriptor (from a thesaurus of terms) searching or a combination? Is it easy enough for me to use by myself or do I need to make an appointment to learn how to use it?
7	"How do I make a..." How do I make a record of this data? Can I download to disk, use Refworks, or email it to myself? Does this save in an ASCII format so I can pull it into Word or WordPerfect? Can I save search strategies on disk and run them on a regular basis with just a few keystrokes? Do I need to learn how to use a bibliographic citation management program? How do I get this information? Search the USF Libraries Catalog for call numbers and holdings information. Check out the full-text journals list as well as the selected/full-text databases. Do I have to inter-library loan (ILL) this stuff? (4 to 6 week turnaround - the later in the semester, the longer it takes!) Do I have to REC (Regional campus exchange) it? (3 to 5 days turnaround). Do I have the time to do this or do I need the article to be here at USF?
8	"Have I got the information..." Have I got the information I need? Time to evaluate the data, interpret, synthesize it. See if it hangs together -- or if there are there holes in it that need to be fixed. How do I present it? What format are you using? APA style? etc. Footnotes, endnotes? Graphs, charts, statistical data? Be sure to cite all the tables where you found the statistical data. If you combined info, cite all the tables that you used. Final evaluation Does this paper present what I want to present? What is it lacking? What will make this paper better? Do I have time to add the missing pieces of the research?
9