A few blogs back, we talked about the types of legitimate resources to use when writing for research. It occurred to me, however, that finding those legitimate resources could be a huge task all by its itty-bitty self. So, in the interest of working smarter rather than harder, I’ve compiled a list of steps that will make things easier, and online places that are basically academic-writing gold mines!
Research writing is the bread and butter of most kinds of science-based work. Although the term itself can be a bit intimidating, all it really means is that the information you are trying to get across is legitimate, and has been reviewed and positively received by other people in that field.
I stress the word positively because not everyone who publishes a paper is correct. Remember Andrew Wakefield? He was that doctor who said that autism is linked to vaccines. Well, he published a study, and it turned out that not only was he super wrong, but that had he faked a bunch of the findings and has since been banned from practicing medicine.
Now, it is not likely that you will find and use a study that is as wacky as Wakefield’s was. However, it is important to pay attention to the author(s) of the study. It is always a good idea to look for works with more than three contributing authors, and those authors should have lots of fancy letters behind their names (MD, PhD, etc.). Those letters should also have a connection to the information that is discussed in that study.
For example, if you’re doing research about cutting edge missile technology, you probably don’t need a paper written by an emergency room physician. Likewise, if you’re doing research for a paper on emergency medicine, maybe don’t use a study written by a rocket scientist. So, where are some good places to look legitimate research?
- Google Scholar (https://scholar.google.com) is a great place to start, and many of the article results are free. The site is easy to navigate (thanks, Google!), and you can save them to a citation sheet if you want to use them later.
- EBSCOHOST (http://www.ebscohost.com) is a fantastic site to find a huge amount of legitimate research material. Although it typically is a subscription-style service, it is likely that your school’s library offers free access (which you can search on the site). They also offer free trials.
- Directory of Open Access Journals (http://doaj.org) is an engine to access open access journals. I’ve never found anything on this site that wasn’t both legitimate and free.
It is likely that you will find enough sources for any undergrad research paper through these four sites. If not, well, at least you’ve seen some excellent examples of how scholarly research engines should look and function. Now GO! I know you must be agonizing over the wait to check out all of the amazing, legitimate, peer-reviewed articles available to you!
(Giggle.)
