Presearch comes before research!  Exploring your topic and getting some background information at the start of a research project can help you identify useful information (i.e. a theme or subtopic to focus on, possible questions to be answered, timelines, etc.) and save you time. This is also a good way to refine your search - to take a broad topic (education, for example) and narrow it to something that you can cover in a meaningful way in your paper (do programs like Teach for America really work?).

(See the boxes below for tips on finding other, more specialized, reference and background information sources.)

More information can be found at the Presearch: Explorative and Background Resources Resource Guide