NUR105 Information Literacy Instruction February, 2011
Instructor: Assist. Prof. Mark Jackson – Reference & Online Resources Librarian
How to use Google Scholar to 1. determine the quantity of scholarly publication about your topic 2. Find full-text articles
* Using Google Scholar to find additional information from journals (is there sufficient scholarly writing?) For our test we will be using family meal time and children's nutrition, in other words, is there a correlation between children and adolescents sharing family meal time and eating habits (obesity, overweight, poor eating habits)? Does sharing family meal time impact children's eating behavior?
* Using regular Google search and Google News search to gather ideas and additional information: for example, parents obesity children
These are some samples of what I found using Google Scholar:
If you are going to use the Internet, look for high-quality authoritative sites that will provide first-quality information!
Evaluating what you find: Is it appropriate?
Cornell University Library’s Five Criteria for Evaluating Web Pages [http://www.library.cornell.edu/olinuris/ref/webcrit.html] is an excellent site with plenty of great information.
These are the databases you have access to [http://ezproxy.bloomfield.edu/public/databases.htm]. If you are doing this from off-campus location, log-in using your Bloomfield College username and password.
Why use these databases? They provide authoritative, research articles that are usually NOT available on the Web. These articles are from journals. A journal is a type of periodical that contains scholarly articles written by specialists aimed at other specialists in a particular field. An article in a scholarly journal is usually documented with footnotes and/or a bibliography. For the most part, scholarly journals are published monthly or quarterly and contain little advertising or few, if any, color illustrations. Also referred to as "Peer Reviewed" or "Refereed," a scholarly journal features articles that usually contain original research (qualitative or quantitative) and have been reviewed and selected by other scholars in order to be published.
What is a peer-reviewed journal and why should we care? Standards and guidelines are stricter for peer-reviewed publications. A panel of experts (the author’s peers) in the subject field of the publication, for example geriatric nursing, will review an article submitted for publication. The panel will scrutinize the sample size, whether or not it is representative of the target population, methodology of the study, clarity of the research focus, conclusions of the authors, and whether or not the study is unique.
ProQuest: We need to do two things to get the results we want. Click on show only full text articles, and then click on the tab for scholarly journals. Keep in mind that most articles that have something to substantial to report on a topic, or an article that is reporting research study results, will typically be at least 4 to 5 pages minimum. When you analyze your results, you are not looking for reviews of books or articles written by anonymous.
We can also use the advanced search feature. Try to utilize all of the built in features of the database before using the advanced search. Look for recommended subjects or recommended publications. You can not think of every word or search term that will help you find the information you are looking for.
With most databases, as you find articles that you feel are appropriate and relevant to your research project, you may mark the article and insert it into a folder. When you are finished, click your folder tab at the top of the page. Follow the instructions for compiling an APA style bibliography. For a preliminary bibliography and references, include the citation and abstract.
Academic Search Premier, CINAHL, MEDLINE may all be searched from one interface -- refine your search using a FULL TEXT limiter and a PEER REVIEWED limiter.
If you need help, email email@example.com