WHERE DO I LOOK? HOW DO I LOOK? How to do online research

Periodicals Scholarly Journals Popular Magazines Newspapers Trade Publications Search Engines

Scholarly Journals (Peer-reviewed/Refereed) Authors are authorities in their fields. Authors cite their sources Individual issues have little or no advertising. Articles must go through a peer-review or refereed process. Articles are usually reports on scholarly research.

Trade Publications Authors are specialists in a certain field or industry. Authors often mention sources, but rarely formally cite them. Intended audience includes people in the industry or people seeking employment in the industry. There is no peer-review process. Articles give practical information to people in an industry.

Popular Magazines and Newspapers Authors are magazine staff members or free lance writers. Authors often mention sources, but rarely formally cite them. Individual issues contain numerous advertisements. There is no peer-review process. Articles are meant to inform and entertain.

Where can I find them? Owatonna High School Website Gale Group Proquest/eLibrary? World Book Online

Search Engines

How do I search without getting 50,000 hits to look through?

Developing a Search Strategy 1) Once you have chosen a topic, write it down in the form of a question or brief statement: What is the relationship between SAT scores and college success? 2) Underline the key words and phrases that are most specific to your topic. What is the relationship between SAT scores and college success? 3) Write down each key word or phrase, and underneath it, list synonyms or related terms. Use a dictionary or thesaurus to find additional keywords. For example: SAT scholastic aptitude testcollege university success achievement

Boolean Search Boolean Operators Boolean operators are words (or, and, not) used to connect search terms to expand or narrow a search within a database expand (or) narrow (and, not)

women or females Or retrieves records that contain any of the search terms. It expands the search. Use "or" in between terms that have the same meaning (synonyms) women or females

women and media And retrieves records that contain all of the search terms. It narrows or limits the search. Use "and" in between terms that are required to make the search specific. women and media

image not weight Not eliminates records that contain a search term. It narrows or limits the search. Use "not" in front of a term to ensure that the search will not include that term. image not weight