Many of us run to Google or Wikipedia when we’re assigned a research paper. Yes, we know that Google/Wikipedia/Yahoo/MSN Search are the roots of all academic evil (including plagiarism and bad resources). But isn’t there some way to just search better? Actually, yes. Yes there is.

Utilize your school’s database subscriptions
Many universities will have a subscription to a website that catalogues articles from many reputable journals, such as Academic Search Premier. You’d have to ask your librarian if your school offers anything like that. (Or you could be force-fed it through your introductory social studies course like they do here. At least that way, you wouldn’t have to go through the trouble of asking anyone anything).

Use Google Scholar and Google Book Search instead of just Google
In much the same way that Google News searches through major (and not so major) periodical publications, Google Scholar will take your search query string and return articles from different academic publications. Google Book Search gives you a glimpse into certain books so you can determine whether or not you’d want to borrow it for your paper.

Use an on-line encyclopedia like Encarta to jump-start your research
While Wikipedia can also serve as a good starting base, encyclopedias like Encarta and the Encyclopaedia Britannica are generally more academically accepted, so you can use them as a source in a research paper (unless, of course, you are supposed to only use primary sources).

I hope those helped you. If you have any more tips, leave them in the comments.

Posted on February 7th, 2007 by Joy
Filed under: Tips