Science Research: Databases

To access databases from home, simply enter your school login and you will have access to every database.

"Peer-reviewed articles, also known as scholarly or refereed articles, are:

• Are written by experts in the field
• Are written for other researchers/scholars
• Are reviewed by the scholar's peers to determine whether they are high-quality pieces of work
• Use terms and language that are discipline-specific
• Usually include in-text citations and a bibliography of cited sources
• May include graphs, charts, etc., related to the topic
• Are published by a professional organization or society, university, research center, or scholarly press"

*Answered by Woodruff Library Reference at Emory University

What are Primary Sources?

Primary sources are documents, images or artifacts that provide firsthand testimony or direct evidence concerning an historical topic under research investigation. 

Examples

• archives and manuscript material
• photographs, audio recordings, video recordings, films
• journals, letters and diaries
• speeches
• scrapbooks
• published books, newspapers and magazine clippings published at the time
• government publications
• oral histories
• records of organizations
• autobiographies and memoirs
• printed ephemera
• artifacts, e.g. clothing, costumes, furniture
• research data, e.g. public opinion polls

(information taken from UCI Libraries: https://www.lib.uci.edu/introduction-primary-sources)

Why Key Words Matter

Despite all the advances in web and database searching, computers still don't do well with meaning.

When you type a word into a search box, the computer looks only for the word you typed, not the concept you had in mind. To you, that word is an idea. To the computer, that word is a bunch of letters. 

So, the burden is on you, the researcher, to choose the best keywords with which to search. The keywords you choose have a direct and measurable effect on the results you get back. Even a small change in your keywords can lead to a big change in results.

Generating Key Words

The first step in thinking of keywords is to define your topic. You can't research or write about a topic if you can't articulate what it is! Try writing your topic down as a sentence or a question.

Think of keywords to describe each concept involved in your topic. Think of more than one, in case your first choice does not work. Focus on synonyms and related terms. What are other ways to state your topic? Is there a specific word that will describe an abstract concept in your topic?

Sample topic: Does the death penalty unfairly target minorities?

Concept 1: death penalty

Alternative Terms: capital punishment, execution

Concept 2: unfairly targeting minorities

Alternative Terms: discrimination, racism, prejudice