Before embarking on research, make sure you have good background knowledge about the relevant issues.

Below are some resources that can be helpful to persons working on mathematically related topics. But the library makes available lots of resources that can provide background information about other subject areas; consult the subject library guides.

The library subscribes to a very large series of short books about a very wide range of subjects. They're called "Very Short Introductions" and are published by Oxford University Press. Below is the general link for them. They can provide you with general background information. Click on browse by subject (upper left) to see the subjects covered.