RELEVANT MATERIAL
Sometimes, since titles can be ambiguous or vague, you can't be sure that
the sources listed in the card catalog, indexes, and bibliographies are
really about your topic."For rashness, ignorance, or carelessness
the mountains leave no margin: and to rashness, ignorance. or careless-
ness three-fourths of the catastrophes which shock us are to be traced."For example, suppose you haye dedded to look into the safery
methods (the use of ropes and other equipment) of the early mountain-
eers to see whether their safety methods were really safe or just another
unintended hazard.The catalog card is evidence that the book possibly is
related somehow to your topic, but is the work a nineteenth-century
physical-fitness treatise or is it a book about mountain climbing?In the card catalog you find a listing for Hours of Exercise in the Alps
by John Tyndall.When you actually have the book in your hands, you confirm that
it does deal with the general topic of mountain climbing, but how can
you find out if it has specific information on your topic: the supposed
safety practices of early mountaineers?First, of course, check the table of contents.You will, therefore, need to be something of a
detective.