This guide is designed to assist students enrolled in any class (Political Science, Economics, Geography, etc.) that requires research on the culture, economics, history, politics, or religion of a specific country. Whether your instructor assigns you a topic or you choose one yourself, an effective way to begin your research is with a source that presents an overview of the issues. This will enable you to focus your topic while providing valuable background information for selecting articles and information from other resources. The guide is organized into steps that cover the basic research process: identifying a topic, locating relevant sources, and citing sources used to write the paper. For general research assistance other than Country Studies view the links listed under Research Tools.