Books:
Books are a great resource to utilize in your research project. Use books to find an in-depth coverage of a subject, history and chronology, overview of a big topic, background information, and bibliographies of additional sources. Keep in mind that well written books require a lengthy amount of time to research, write, and publish, which means that thoroughly researched books aren't the best resources for contemporary topics. Learn more about searching the catalog here.
Articles:
Scholarly articles will make up the bulk of your research. Most are peer reviewed, meaning that the article has been reviewed and vetted by other experts in a given field. Scholarly articles fall into an important part of the information cycle, they aren't as reactive or in-the-moment as contemporary news media (newspapers, blogs, etc) but are published after a wide base of research has been established. Scholarly articles have a more narrow focus, examining a specific topic instead of broadly approaching a subject. Learn more about articles and databases here.