Use Research Guides as a starting point for your ideas or if your instructor has recommended that you to use them. Class Guides are tailored to a specific class or project. Definitely use class guides if your instructor recommends one.

Research guides can help you get you started, but they are often too general in scope to really help with a specific research question. For example, we have a research guide on controversial issues, but it's up to you to figure out what controversial issue you'd like to explore, and you'll need to do narrower searches in order to get really great sources. So, don't just use the books that we suggest or the links that we provide. Dig deeper. Explore! Get lost even. Research is not about already having the answer, but rather, discovering it!