Google Scholar (https://scholar. google. com/): covers all disciplines[3] X Expert Source Jeremiah KaplanResearch & Training Specialist Expert Interview. 2 September 2021. ScienceDirect (http://www. sciencedirect. com/science/search): covers all science and medical disciplines IEEE Xplore (http://ieeexplore. ieee. org/Xplore/guesthome. jsp): covers computer sciences, electronics, and electrical engineering
The guides will tell you how to search the most efficiently, including symbols and punctuation you can add to your searches to limit them and weed out unhelpful results.
Read the abstract and any other information available about the article to find out if it might be of help to you. Then search the title in quotation marks. If the full text of the article is available on the internet, you’ll be able to find it with this search. Keep in mind that this search will pull up any pages where the title of the article appears, many of which likely won’t include the full text of the article. You may have to dig through a few links to find the full text. Some of the links you find will be to a subscription-based database with a paywall. These sites typically won’t let you view more than the abstract for free.
These browser extensions search the web for a full-text copy of the article on the internet. They don’t “hack” subscription databases or allow you to access articles illegally. Rather, they search for free copies of the article that already exist. For example, the author of the article might have uploaded a PDF of the article on their own website or on their university faculty page. The browser extensions may help you find the article more quickly than you could on your own.
If you’ve already graduated, find out if you can get alumni access to scholarly databases. Even if you aren’t a student, your public library could have some useful resources. [9] X Expert Source Jeremiah KaplanResearch & Training Specialist Expert Interview. 2 September 2021.
PubMed (https://www. ncbi. nlm. nih. gov/pubmed/): offered by the National Center for Biotechnology Information in the US. Not all of the articles are free, but you can limit your search to full-text articles. Education Resources Information Center (ERIC) (https://eric. ed. gov/): maintained by the Institution of Education Sciences in the US. Not all articles are free, but you can limit your search to full-text. NASA Scientific and Technical Information (https://www. sti. nasa. gov/): Provides full-text scientific articles and data sets.
CORE (https://core. ac. uk/): more than 66 million open access scholarly articles ScienceOpen (https://www. scienceopen. com/): more than 28 million articles across all science disciplines Directory of Open Access Journals (https://doaj. org/): more than 2 million articles from 9,519 open access journals; multidisciplinary Public Library of Science (PLOS) (https://www. plos. org/): publishes 7 open access journals in science fields Peer-reviewed content provides a more objective view, since it reflects multiple expert opinions. [12] X Expert Source Jeremiah KaplanResearch & Training Specialist Expert Interview. 2 September 2021.
The record frequently includes keywords and search terms. Some of these might give you an indication that the article presents original research. For example, one of the keywords or phrases might be “primary research” or “original research. " Also, look for words that indicate something new was discovered as a result of the research. The title of the article can also help you figure out whether it presents original research. Look for scientific methodology words, such as “sample,” which indicate a study was performed.
If the abstract is written in the first person, you can be assured that the author or authors of the article are going to be talking about a study they conducted themselves. However, many abstracts are written in passive voice to avoid using the first person.
Methods Results Discussion Conclusion References
You can also use the charts and graphs to quickly evaluate the study and determine if the article would be beneficial for you in your paper or project.
