Exploring sources/Reference overview
Once you have done your preliminary look for background material on your topic you are ready to go to some basic library reference sources to help you select your specific topic.

An encyclopedia is an excellent place to start. The Encyclopedia Britannica, for example, is a world recognized basic source. Look up your topic and get some ideas, generate some new keywords, concepts, authors, and then follow these up with new searches.

Some online general encyclopedia links can be found at Encyclopedias and Almanacs off the library home page.

Subject examples
For example, a search under YMCA camps refers you to historical and overview articles on Young Men's Christian Association, summer camps, and internet links to some potentially useful sites.

Another example: if you were searching for some basic information on the possible range of services under outdoor recreation, search the terms outdoor recreation and see that the results also provide some good overview articles.

Other good sources of general reference information for recreation topics include some of the sources listed on the Recreation and Leisure Studies/Tourism Subject Guide. One of these, the Dictionary of concepts in recreation and leisure studies, is an excellent place to look for basic information on recreation topics. If you looked up information on accessibility you would find good in-depth entries on related topics like therapeutic recreation, and normalization. From here you can get further references to articles, book titles, and authors in the bibliograhy to search for more in-depth information.

Another good source to check for topics like these in recreation and leisure is the Encyclopedia of 20th century American humor. Even though this reference book is obviously mainly about humor, there would be sections dealing with many leisure related topics. For example, if you were researching a subject like designing leisure fun activities that appeal to both males and females, looking up the topic gender and humor would give you an excellent overview of cultural differences between male and female treatment in American humor as well as the physical differences between the sexes which might be useful to you in planning different activities that target each sex specifically.

This process might give you some other ideas about your specific topic. Note the bibliography at the end of each article entry (or in the bibliography) and see if you can locate these books or articles in the library using the Brock Library Catalogue.

One research path often leads to other paths and opens up research possibilities. Note the keywords, concepts, and related topics and proceed to look for books and journal articles for your research assignment by using the catalogue.