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RESEARCH HELP

Resources to help you do thorough, productive, and efficient research using a variety of tools.

Start with this handout of resources:

"Research At Home" Handout
(You must log into your Sandwich430.org account to access this handout.)

Are You a Good Searcher?

Do you have the knowledge and skills it takes to be a good searcher? Do you know the difference between searching for a food recipe, the lyrics to a Taylor Swift song, and a research paper topic? If not, check out this PowerPoint presentation given by Mrs. Kurtz to classes beginning research.

TAKE TIME TO LEARN THE BASICS

There are basic web searching skills that a person needs to have in order to do successful searches. These skills include using keywords, learning to search beyond the first page, and never giving up on finding the information you're looking for. Check out this article (and the related articles at the end) about basic web searching skills:

DITCH GOOGLE!

The invention of search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing have revolutionized society and the way the average person can access information. However, these databases are not meant for academic research. Try these academic databases for reliable research information on a variety of topics.

The Library of Congress Virtual Reference Center has access to some of the most famous, as well as the most obscure, documents that our nation's library has to offer.

Wolfram|Alpha is known as a great science and math search engine, although you can find many other topics on it as, well. Searching for a topic can bring up graphs, charts, and other data readily available for your research paper.

VoS stands for Voice of the Shuttle. This database was created at a university by humanities students wishing to create a database for those doing serious research. Find topics on art, history, literature, law, music, and more humanities subjects.

This database contains the most comprehensive amount of data that the U.S. government has collected and released to the public. Government research and statistics are freely available here and won't leave you wondering if it's legitimately from the government.

DOAJ stands for Directory of Open Access Journals. This database provides access to academic, peer-reviewed journals on a variety of topics. While these sources might be a little older, they would most certainly be accepted for your research paper.

Mednar is a database of medical research. Actual medical professionals can use this search engine to find relevant information to their medical cases.  You can use it to find research on your health and science topics.

BASE is the Bielefeld Academic Search Engine. Specifically designed to provide the best academic resources available on the internet from around the world. The database entries in this search engine are chosen based on academic criteria.

The World Wide Science organization has compiled this international database of medical and scientific research. The goal of the database is to make scientific research easier for researchers, thereby increasing scientific progress.

The New York Public Library's database of digitized images, manuscripts, and other primary sources. There's no better way to do academic research than to find the original source of information.

...and if you just can't kick the Google habit...

Google Scholar accesses a number of online publications, some of which are scholarly journal articles. One catch with Google Scholar is that many of the articles are available because they are older. Another catch is that you must click on the right link on the results page to access the free material. Usually, this is a link to the right of the result that brings up a Word document or PDF.

OTHER RESOURCES

Maps, Atlases, and Gazeteers, as well as pathfinders for specific class papers/projects.

Maps, Atlases, & Gazeteers

Pathfinders/Guides

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