<p>It's very common for users to want to find <a href="https://stats.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/references" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged &#39;references&#39;" aria-label="show questions tagged &#39;references&#39;" rel="tag" aria-labelledby="references-container">references</a> about a specific topic in machine learning, statistics, or probability. Often, these questions start from a place where the user <em>doesn't know what they want to know</em>, so it is challenging to give a good answer.</p>
<ul>
<li>A vague question - a question with little context or explanation of what kind of information is sought - is very likely to be closed as &quot;Needs details or clarity.&quot;</li>
<li>A question that asks about a broad or general topic (e.g. &quot;computer vision&quot; or &quot;machine learning&quot;) is likely a duplicate.</li>
</ul>
<p>So how should a user who does not know what they want to know about ask for references (books, articles, tutorials, websites) about an area with which they are unfamiliar?</p>
