Scholarly Research

Usually academic research begins with a search of your college library's online resources such as the online catalog and electronic databases. The Internet is the place to look for

• the most recent or latest information
• new developments
• emerging topics (technology, pop culture, etc.)
• current statistics
• contact information (organizations, government, companies, etc.)
• special interest groups focused on a unique or hard-to-find topic  

For a scholarly research project, a well-balanced bibliography should contain information from each of the following sources:

Encyclopedias and books are your best bet for general background information.  Use the indexes in encyclopedias and books to pinpoint information.  Encyclopedia articles are well organized, based on fact, and edited to check for accuracy.  A general outline of the subject is usually provided, and important vocabulary or search terms will be identified. Once you have learned the basics of your subject from an encyclopedia article, you can use books and journal articles for more in-depth information.

Magazine or journal articles provide updated information, and those from scholarly or academic journals provide well-grounded, objective research and careful examination of topics by authorities in that particular field of study. For college level research, scholarly journals are the preferred source of information.

General characteristics of a scholarly journal are listed below (from Hartnell College Library Information Literacy 8 handout):

• The covers of scholarly journals are usually very plain with very little color and have no photographs on the cover. Many covers include a listing of the articles inside the journal.
• Scholarly journals generally focus on one single topic or field of study.
• The articles usually include charts, graphs or tables. There are few photographs included.
• Scholarly journals have footnotes and bibliographies citing the authors’ sources.
• The articles are written by a scholar or someone who has done research in the field. Frequently the author’s name is followed by an abbreviation indicating the level of their education, PhD, MLS, RN. Sometimes a statement is given about the author’s current position or affiliation within a university/college or institution.
• The articles use terminology of the discipline or technical language.
• Scholarly journals publish original research. The text of research articles is divided into the following sections: introduction, review of the literature, research questions and/or hypotheses, methods, conclusion, discussion, references and notes.
• The articles are “peer reviewed” meaning that the editor of the publication evaluates the article and assigns another editor with a background in the field of study or experts who are not part of the editorial staff to review the article before it appears in the journal.
• Many scholarly journals are published by professional organizations or educational institutions. Examples of scholarly journals:
  • American Economic Review
  • Journal of Educational Psychology
  • Journal of the American Dietetic Association
  • Modern Fiction Studies
  • Virginia Quarterly Review

Those looking for information have a wealth of resources available through the Internet. In addition to Web sites found through the use of search engines or directories, serious researchers will want to include information found through online library catalogs, full-text or statistical databases, electronic journals or books, as well as multimedia.

To make the best use of all these different sources and formats of information, the researcher needs to develop a strategy to help focus his or her search. Generally, this means defining a topic or a manageable sub-section of a topic. The development of research questions can be a useful tool to assist this process. The Research Paper: Getting Started and Search Strategy: The Basics are two useful handouts to help you achieve this goal.

CQ Researcher provides a research question for each topic it discusses. The research question can be found on the Pro/Con page of the article. Here are some additional online tutorials that will walk you through the process of developing research questions and research strategies. These are tools that you will need to have read to complete this week's assignment.

• Selecting a Topic and Developing A Research Strategy
• Developing a Research Question
• Eric Brenner's Developing a Research Question
• Develop a Research Topic

Here are links to additional handouts to assist you in the process of creating an annotated bibliography.

• How to cite information in MLA format
• Organizing your research
• Scholarly vs. popular publications
• How to evaluate information sources

Search Strategies:

Here are some recommended strategies that work for online searches of library catalogs, full-text databases, search engines, and search directories. Remember, search engines and search directories should be your last choice of search tools.  Begin with the online library catalog and invisible web databases such as EBSCOhost, ProQuest, etc.

1. Enter words or phrases that are likely to appear in the document you want to find. Tip: Technical terms will yield more specific results than frequently used words (Example: columbine vs flower).
2. Be flexible with your terms. Think of synonyms and variations on words. Use general library and/or online reference resources, such as encyclopedias, dictionaries, and thesauri to better understand your topic.
3. Avoid overloading your searches - 3 to 5 words is best.
4. Type the most important word/phrase first.
5. Check spelling.
6. Use search limiters.

If the search engine offers options, you may want to change some of the default settings to better control the results of a search. For instance, HotBot gives you the option of matching just some or all the terms that you type in. If you want to learn more about how to effectively search with any of the engines, they all have a "Hints" link.

If you aren’t satisfied with the results returned by the search engine, try a different one. Each search engine uses different logical operators, therefore each will "think" differently.

If too many results are returned, add another keyword.

The following three sites provide information to help you understand and compare various search tools:

• Understanding and Comparing Search Tools
• The Matrix of Internet Catalogs and Search Engines
• Search Engine Watch

For information about citing electronic resources, see the following sites:

• BUBL Link: Citation
• Stylesheets for Citing Internet and Electronic Resources
• How to Cite Information From Web Pages