Searching for Scholarly Sources

Biology Symposium

Do Now!

• Go to m.socrative.com• Join Room Number 795231• Answer the question: What do you know about

peer-reviewed sources? – Who writes them? Who reads them? – How are articles accepted for publication? – What common features are you likely to see? – What else are peer-reviewed articles called? – How can you tell if your source is a peer-reviewed

article?

Agenda

• Defining peer-reviewed sources (review!)• Searching for peer-reviewed sources – Recommended databases – Keyword searching– Interlibrary loan

• Reading peer-reviewed sources

Defining Scholarly Articles

• Written by experts for experts, evaluated by other experts who specialize in the same scholarly area (“peers”) for validity and quality

Identifying Scholarly Articles• Is the publication scholarly or

peer-reviewed?• Is there an abstract (summary)

at the beginning of the article?• Is the tone of the article

thoughtful, restrained and serious?

• Does the article have footnotes or citations of other sources?

• Does the article have a bibliography or list of references at the end?

• Are the author's credentials listed?

• Is the topic of the article narrowly focused and explored in depth?

• Is the article based on either original research or authorities in the field (as opposed to personal opinion)?

• Is the article written for readers with some prior knowledge of the subject?

Source: Lloyd Sealy Library, John Jay College of Criminal Justice

Types of Scientific Articles

• What does it mean when a study is a – Literature review– Systematic review– Meta-analysis

• Does the scientific method still apply? • What are the strengths or weaknesses of

these articles for YOUR research?

Finding Scholarly Articles

• Search online library databases that specialize in peer-reviewed sources – Use advanced search options to filter for peer-

reviewed and full-text results • Chaining from other articles, popular or

scholarly• Interlibrary loan requests, after you have

searched available databases

Keyword Searching

• Conduct background research to identify specialized terminology for your topic – Subject headings may differ by database

• Put key phrases in quotation marks • Try out combinations of keywords to get all

the main ideas (and be creative!)• Use advanced search features (e.g., title

search)

Sample Search: Diet or Exercise?• Started with popular sources:

– http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/19/is-30-minutes-of-daily-exercise-a-sweet-spot-for-weight-loss/

– http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/01/dieting-vs-exercise-for-weight-loss/

• Chained from there to peer-reviewed sources: – http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1014296?query=TOC&#t=

abstract– http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22681398– http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22855277

• Then tried a few database searches and submitted an interlibrary loan request for one I really wanted

Reading Scholarly Articles

• Read background information first – Scholarly articles are written for people with prior

knowledge, so go get some!• Focus on key sections– Abstract, introduction and discussion, figures

• Make sure you’re ready to commit • Read hard articles in hard copy• Ask for help when you need it