It's just not possible for one person to know everything there is to know about the world. Thousands of years of discoveries and advancements, from how to make fire to IP telephone systems, wouldn't fit in the brain of a single person. That's why we have libraries. Libraries contain a collection of knowledge that far exceeds our own capacity to remember. If you need some information that you don't have yet, all you have to do is go down to your local library and do a little research. We'll show you how.

The first thing you need to do when you get to the library is to look at the catalogue. The library catalogue will tell you which books contain the information you want and where in the library you can find them. Most libraries have computer catalogues these days, so you can search them from your home computer and come armed with a list of books on radiation protection that you want to pick up. Be sure to do several searches on slightly different terms, such as "dogs" or "canines" in both the subject and title fields to yield maximum results. If you can't find anything on your own, ask the research librarian for assistance.

The books you will find during your catalogue search will only be the tip of the iceberg of what the library actually has on the subject. In order to find the rest, use the Dewey Decimal numbers for the titles you did find to locate them on the shelves. Since non-fiction books are filed according to subject, the surrounding titles should also pertain to London, Ontario animal hospitals. Their titles may not have shown up on your initial search because they didn't contain the exact keywords you looked for. It may also be worthwhile to look in the juvenile non-fiction section, especially if you're not looking for in-depth information.

Take your findings to a table or study corral and check the indexes and table of contents of each book to see how relevant each title is to your topic. Some books may contain only one chapter on Toronto rhinoplasty. Leave anything you don't want on the table to be reshelved by the librarians and skim the titles that seem likely. Choose however many you need (between 3 and 5 is a good number for your average research paper) and check them out. You can either study them at the library or at home.

When you use a book for research, read carefully and take notes, either on a laptop or in a paper notebook. Avoid jotting things on paper napkins and old adhesive name tags because they are easily lost. Quote passages you like, and don't forget to jot the page number down next to the note so you can read it again later if needed.