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Searching for Scholarly Research
on the Web
Why use scholarly-specific search tools?
Search Tools for Scholarly Sources
Directories of Selected, High-Quality Materials
Directories Focused on a Specific Subject
Why use scholarly-specific search tools?
Some scholarly information is available via general web search engines like Google, including research studies have been published on free web sites (notably government web sites) and descriptions of millions of books and articles. However, general search engines index billions of web pages, and only a small fraction of the results, if any at all, are likely to describe materials of academic-quality (e.g. reviewed studies which have been conducted according using proper scientific research methods).
- Most scholarly literature is still published in print publications.
- Even when research articles are available online, most require a subscription to access the full-text of the study.
General search engines often provide a description of a study, but link to a site that requires a subscription to access. From a University Library database, the Find It! service will identify if the University Library has access to a journal or book (including online access to millions of articles from 10,000 different academic journals).
- Only a small percentage of results from a general search engine
are likely to be on a scholarly topic.
A tool like Google searches perhaps 10 billion or more web pages, while the number of scholarly items (including full studies online as well as simply brief descriptions of print publications) available online probably number less than 50 million, an estimated ratio of one scholarly source for every 200 items on the web.
- Results which discuss a research topic may not be of
scholarly quality.
Before a scholarly study is published, it is usually screened, critiqued, and edited, including reviewed by a panel of expertise on the topic to insure the study meets high-quality, scientific standards. Before using any information available from a free web site, students need to replicate some of this review process themselves by carefully evaluating the material as an editor or expert scholarly would. The following search tools are generally focused on high-quality, scholarly materials.
A general search engine like Google will not retrieve these sources unless they have been described in an online source. A research database will cover most research in a discipline, especially those published in journal articles.
Search Tools for Scholarly Sources
Most scholarly and scientific research is published in journal articles and scholarly books. The best "search engines" for these materials are compiled by database vendors and sold to libraries in universities, business, government agencies, etc. The University Library subscribes to over 100 research databases. Both Google and Microsoft are developing free sites which focus on these types of materials.
** Indicates the resource is not free to the general public, but is accessible at no charge through the University Library's subscription (and requires a current Stanislaus ID# to access off-campus).
Examples
EBSCO's Academic Search Elite **
CSU Stanislaus URL: http://library.csustan.edu/s/purl.php?375
- descriptions of 8 million articles from 2,500 academic journals
- provides citations and abstracts for every entry
- full-text of many articles are linked from the search results page; others are available through the University Library's Find It! system
CSU Stanislaus URL: http://library.csustan.edu/s/purl.php?181
- searches descriptions of 50 million articles published in 10,000 magazines and journals
- provides citations for every entry, and abstracts for most entries
- full-text of many articles are linked from the search results page; others are available through the University Library's Find It! system
URL: http://scholar.google.com/
- searches descriptions of 30 million scholarly articles, books, etc.
- the full-text of most of the results are not available for free, but must be accessed via a subscription or tracked down in a library's print collection
- still under deveopment (in "beta" testing)
URL: http://academic.live.com/
- still under development (in "beta" testing)
URL: http://www.worldcat.org/
- searches brief descriptions of 40 million books and other items held by libraries around the United States
URL: http://www.pubmed.com/
- free version of MEDLINE database with citations to medical research
- the full-text of most of the results are not available for free via the web, but many may be accessed via the subscription version linked from the library's Databases page
University Library Databases **
URL: http://library.csustan.edu/databases/
- 100+ specialized research databases via the University Library
- full-text of many articles are linked from the search results page or each database; others are available through the University Library's Find It! system
Scholarly-specific tools may not cover all scholarly research, especially work that is published only on free web sites (including some government data). In these cases, using a general search engine (like Google) or a directory may be helpful. When using a non-scholarly tool like Google, be sure to remember to properly evaluate any results for characteristics like authority, reliability, and currency before including any results in a scholarly paper.
Some Tips
Limit the search to the most appropriate domains:
- information from higher education (.edu), the government (.gov), and non-profit organizations (.org) are more likely to have scholarly materials than sites on for-profit servers (.com)
- most search engines provide for this option in the "advanced" section of their site
- see the tips section of the "Searching the Web" guide for more information
Use quotes to search for terms as a phrase:
- entering terms in quotation markes (") forces most search engines to retrieve only those results where the terms are next to each other
- e.g. "right to bear arms"
- e.g. "genetic engineering"
- most search engines also provide for this option in the "advanced" section of their site
- see the tips section of the "Searching the Web" guide for more information
Use vocabulary found in the research literature:
- e.g. adolescents instead of "teen agers"
- e.g. recidivism instead of "repeat offenders"
- e.g. methylphenidate instead of "ritalin"
Remember, there are options in addition to Google:
- in addition to Google, there are three other widely-used general search engines (Yahoo, Microsoft, & Teoma/Ask) and numerous other options for general web searching
- see the search engines and tips pages for more information
Directories of Selected, High-Quality Sites
These directories are compilations of sites specifically selected for their quality by librarians, academics and experts in the field.
Examples
URL: http://infomine.ucr.edu/
- compiled by UC Riverside
- covers 23,000 carefully selected sites of value to academic research
- search options include keyword, author, title, subject, and text
URL: http://scout.wisc.edu/
- searchable archives of weekly newsletter which highlights choice sites
- see the Advanced Search feature
- newsletter published by University of Wisconsin
Librarians' Index to the Internet
URL: http://www.lii.org/
- sponsored by the Library of California
- acts like a "Yellow Pages" of the websites
- also includes telephone listings, maps, shopping sites, email searches
URL: http://www.vlib.org/
- compilation of a wide variety of individual guides
- guides compiled by scholars on each subject
Directories on a Specific Subject
Some directories are compiled by experts in a specific field or discipline. The following are examples of sites related to Education compiled by organizations with expertise in this area.
Examples
Gateway to Educational Materials
URL: http://www.thegateway.org/
- thousands of high quality educational materials, including lesson plans, activities, and projects
Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators
URL: http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/
- massive guide to sites on curriculum and professional growth
Internet Public Library Pathfinder: Resources for Teachers
URL: http://www.ipl.org/div/pf/entry/48536
- highlights sites on lesson plans, associations, standards, classroom management, and networking
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