1. Walden University Academic Residencies:
Library Resources and Search Strategies
for Doctoral Research
PhD Residency 1
San Antonio
June 2019
Anne Rojas, MLIS

2. Agenda & Overview Expectations for Doctoral Scholarship
The Walden University Library and its collections
Develop search strategies that deliver useable results
Evaluating resources
Challenges of Online Research
Researching Beyond the Library

3. ACRL Framework for Information Literacy
Doctoral Scholarship
Research as inquiry
Scholarship as conversation
Searching as strategic exploration
Information has value
Authority is constructed and contextual
Information creation as a process
ACRL Framework for Information Literacy

4. Types of Scholarly Articles
Empirical research articles: sharing an original research study
Review articles: can include
literature reviews
systematic reviews
meta-analyses
Opinion/Commentary: Not usually Peer-reviewed
Other types: Clinical trials, Case studies – may be found in Health Sciences, Business

5. Activity: Anatomy of an Empirical Research Article
Access the example article: “Student Perspectives of Assessment Strategies in Online Courses”
In small groups:
Identify the features of an empirical research study
Consider: How does this differ from other sources you might read?
For more information after the session: See the tutorial Anatomy of a Research Article
Citation: Bailey, S., Hendricks, S., & Applewhite, S. (2015). Student perspectives of assessment strategies in online courses. Journal Of Interactive Online Learning, 13(3), 112.

6. Keys to Successful Online Research
No single collection or search engine will cover everything.
Start in the Library collections and then go beyond.
Google Scholar offers wide-coverage – but limited ability to refine searches and no peer-review limiter.
Not all articles will be freely available online; know your tools for tracking down the full text.

7. The Walden Library and Its Collections
Find the Library website: library.waldenu.edu
Also available through the student portal
Explore the resources for your courses in:
Course Readings
Assignment Resources
Find your subject research page and bookmark it.

8. Activity: Explore Your Subject Resources
On the Library website:
Look for the Subject Resources box.
Select your subject area from the drop-down.
Explore the databases listed there.
Which may be useful to you?
Explore resources under Research help.
How might you use these?
Note that help is available on the left

9. Database search skills guide
Demo time!
I’m looking for articles on teens’ addiction to e-cigs
teen* OR youth or adolescent OR adolescence
vaping OR e-cig* OR vape
I’m looking for articles on standardized testing and how it influences curriculum in elementary schools
Standard* test*
Curriculum OR content
Elementary OR primary
Database search skills guide
Use of drop-down for abstract and subject searching
Date limiters – can use after thorough search to make sure background is understood

10. Putting your search terms together
Boolean Operators: AND, OR and NOT
Big Bang
Theory
NCIS

11. Activity: Find Resources on Your Topic
Too narrow or too broad?
Brainstorm search terms
Put them together
In small groups:
Share a research topic of interest.
Help each other identify useful search terms and synonyms to build into the search to expand your results.
What databases might you use for that search?

12. Research Beyond the Walden Library
Using Google Scholar effectively
searches broadly
overwhelming number of results to review
no peer-review limiter
Ulrichs to verify peer review
WorldCat to find resources in other libraries
Government websites
Research and professional organizations
Document Delivery Service

13. Questions?
See you after lunch!