How To Find Research Articles And Why Find Research

How To Find Articlesfinding Research Articles1 Why Find Research Arti

How to Find Articles Finding research articles 1 Why find research articles? 2 What is a research article? 3 Strategies to find research articles 4 Advanced search interface 5 Logistics of how to find full-text articles 6 How to read research articles What is a research article? Before we talk about how to find research articles, we have to agree on what we're looking for. We're looking for scientific truth. Where do you get it? From a Trustworthy Authority? Give me a break! (see rant). Scientific truth resides in research articles. A research article is one that provides observations or the observed results of experiments (not merely conclusions) and a description of how the experiments were performed, in sufficient detail that someone else might replicate them. You will recognize them by the detail paid to the methods on which the results were based. A news report of a scientific finding is not a research article. It doesn't describe how to do the experiment. A review article is not a research article. It combines lessons learned from multiple research articles but, again, does not describe how to do the experiments it covers. Strategies to find research articles If you know the exact title of the article you're looking for, then: • Your favorite search engine may be the fastest way to reach the article (if you have its exact title). However, if you're doing this from off-campus, the site you reach will not recognize your IP address and not realize that you are a member of the VCU community and thus deserving of the full text of articles in journals to which VCU subscribes. • VCU library general search facility is an excellent way of getting most articles. If you are accessing it from off campus, you'll be prompted for your eID and password if needed. But no database is perfect, and you may sometimes need to look elsewhere. If you don't know the exact title, then: • Using a search engines is generally a poor strategy -- too low of a signal-to-noise ratio • Google Scholar is much better but I haven't used it enough to know how its database compares to others. Note that Google Scholar allows advanced searches by clicking the down arrow in the search box. • For greater flexibility, try dedicated services, such as PubMed and Web of Sciences. There are two major strategies to use these indexes to find research articles (plus one general fallback strategy): • Keyword search: Looks for articles whose titles, abstracts, or author lists contain a set of words that you supply. Used by all the sites. This is what you're already used to. • Citation search: Looks for articles that include in their list of references an article you supply. This often finds articles difficult to find by keyword search. This strategy is used by Web of Sciences in addition to keyword search. Google Scholar also let's you do this. Find your favorite known article in Google Scholar and then click "Cited by..." immediately below the listing of the article • If all fails, Try your friendly local reference librarian: By web, by phone (), by e-mail (Julie Arendt, Science/Engineering Research Librarian) or in person. This is their job, and they do it well. And here are some alternate strategies: • Review articles: Find a good one in your area of interest and plunder the reference list • Related research article: Find one that comes close, and use its reference list to identify an earlier, related article Advanced search interface Most article search facilities offer a (slightly) more complicated interface that gives you considerably more power. Using PubMed, for example, clicking Advanced just under the main entry box brings you to an interface where you can: • Browse before buying: See the number of hits (by using the Add to History link) before committing to displaying them on the screen. • Limit to title: You can bias the search for articles in which a keyword is central to the article by demanding that the word is to appear specifically in the title, by using the down arrow next to All fields and choosing Title. • Limit to article type: Specify a particular kind of article, by using the down arrow next to All fields, choosing Publication type, then selecting on the desired type after clicking Show index list. • Limit to slice of history: Specify a range of years when the desired article should have been published, by choosing Date-publication and filling in the date boxes that appear, making sure to adhere to PubMed's specified format (e.g. 2000/01/01 to 2001/12/31 to cover the years ). • Limit to specific institution: Specify a particular site where the work was done, by choosing Affiliation and either typing in the city or institution or choosing it from the Show index list • Use Boolean logic: Combine the results of different searches or search terms using AND, OR, or NOT. Specify a search by its number (e.g. #3 for the results of the third search you performed, as listed in your History). See Pubmed help and quick tours for details. Logistics of how to find full-text research articles References are nice and abstracts sometimes helpful, but inevitably the time will come when you need the actual article. However, many journals restrict access to those having subscriptions, so you want to make sure that the journals realize that you are at VCU (which has many subscriptions). You can do this either by using a computer on campus (your affiliation is recognized by your IP address) or by accessing the site from off campus through the VCU library. At some point, you'll be asked for your VCU eID and password. Here's one way to do it: • From the VCU library web page, click Databases. • Click P for Pubmed, W for Web of Science, or G for Google Scholar • Scroll down and click PubMed/MEDLINE (VCU), Web of Science (VCU), or Google Scholar (VCU). If you like, you can bookmark the sites when you get there, but realize that your privileges will be sharply curtailed if you use the bookmarks from off campus. In that case, you need to go through the library as described. The library has a few useful apps to help you get through pay walls (at the bottom of its tools & apps page) without having to navigate through the library web page.

Paper For Above instruction

Finding scholarly research articles is a fundamental skill for anyone engaged in academic inquiry, particularly within scientific disciplines such as molecular biology. The primary goal of locating research articles is to access the most direct and reliable sources of scientific data, observations, and experimental results. Unlike news reports or review articles, research articles provide detailed methodologies and original findings that contribute to the scientific debate and understanding. Recognizing these articles requires an understanding of their typical structure, especially the methods section where experiments are described in sufficient detail to allow replication.

To find research articles effectively, researchers employ a variety of strategies. When the exact title of the desired article is known, using general search engines can be a quick method; however, off-campus access can pose obstacles due to IP recognition barriers. University library search tools, such as the VCU library's general search facility, often provide comprehensive access, especially when logged in with valid credentials. For cases where the exact title is unknown, specialized scholarly databases and search engines such as PubMed, Web of Science, and Google Scholar are powerful tools. These platforms offer advanced search capabilities including keyword searches—focusing on specific words in titles, abstracts, or author lists—and citation searches, which locate articles that reference known seminal works.

Advanced search interfaces further enhance the research process by allowing users to apply filters for publication dates, article types, institutional affiliations, and by combining search terms with Boolean operators. For example, PubMed’s advanced search allows for precise querying, reducing the noise typically associated with broad keyword searches. This methodology improves efficiency by narrowing results to the most relevant publications.

Accessing the full text of articles is often complicated by paywalls and subscription restrictions. To circumvent these issues, researchers are advised to utilize campus resources—either on-site or through virtual private network (VPN) access via university credentials. The VCU library's web portals provide access to a wide array of databases, including PubMed, Web of Science, and Google Scholar, all of which are configured to recognize institutional affiliations and grant access to subscribed content. Additional tools and applications are available through the library’s resource pages to help bypass paywalls legally and ethically.

In summary, mastering the skills to locate research articles involves understanding what constitutes a research article, employing targeted searches using advanced interface features, and utilizing institutional access to obtain full texts. These competencies empower researchers to stay current with scientific developments, build solid foundational knowledge, and support their own experimental work with high-quality, verified data derived directly from primary sources.

References

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• National Library of Medicine. (2022). PubMed User Guide. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/help/
• Web of Science Group. (2021). How to Search in Web of Science. Clarivate. https://clarivate.com/webofsciencegroup/solutions/web-of-science/
• Google Scholar Help. (2023). Google Scholar Advanced Search. https://scholar.google.com/intl/en/scholar/help.html
• American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. 7th Edition.
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