Good Presentation

The Prisoner's Dilemma

Bad Presentation

The Life And Death Of Mathematician John Nash

Don’t search only using the name of your mathematician.

Use Wikipedia, MacTutor, or The Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography to find out what interesting or significant math they did, then search for: 

NAME + INFO ABOUT THE MATH

For example: JOHN NASH was known for advances in CRYPTOGRAPHY and GAME THEORY, specifically NASH EQUILIBRIUM, and for solving HILBERT'S NINETEENTH PROBLEM.

Good searches might be:

• Nash and cryptography
• Nash and game theory
• Nash equilibrium
• Hilbert’s nineteenth problem

Choose "BOOKS" to find books and eBooks on a specific topic.

Use the book's index and table of contents to find your topic within the book.

Yes, it’s ok to use Google.  Try these advanced techniques:

• add site:.edu or site:.gov into the search box to get only academic or government results
• do a google news search to find out how the math is being applied right now

Choose a citation style below and click "GO" to find a guide on how to cite sources.