Researching might be the WORST part of a research paper. It’s a tedious process, professors can be strict about which research sources you’re allowed to use, and sometimes it can be difficult to read a bunch of resources just to HOPE that if you keep reading, it will work perfectly for your essay.
I have attached below several recommended search engines to help you find scholarly and peer-reviewed articles.
- For real books, use the Millersville University McNairy Library catalog search: https://sshelco-primo.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/primo-explore/search?vid=MILLRSVL&sortby=rank&lang=en_US
- For online journals and books, use JSTOR: https://www.jstor.org/
- Google Scholar is also a great resource to use for online journals and books, that covers any content centered journal article: https://scholar.google.com/
- EBSCO is wonderful for the same reason, and it works similarly to Google Scholar (but a little easier to navigate in my opinion 🙂 https://research.ebsco.com/c/n5ur3d/search/advanced/filters?auth-callid=59592a9d-baf1-4d04-8b2c-e8875b975516&autocorrect=y
Now once you locate a search engine that works for you in order to find a few great resources, understanding how to determine their credibility is an important step to finding resources. Evaluate these features of the resource you’re about to use quickly before you rely on it too much for your research:
- Check the date – was it published within the last 5 years? *Your professor may expect it to be even more up to date, or may not specify currency.
- How relevant is it to your topic? *This is subjective, and if it makes sense for your research, then use it!
- Who is the author? What are their credentials? *Just a simple Google search about who the author(s) is/are or what work they’ve done can tell you whether your audience will take your research seriously if you use the information they published.
- Is the source publishing biased information? *This may be political or simply fact-based, but look into the entity that published the article to understand what their mission, values, and opinions are and if this impacts their credibility (as they may be sharing information that supports only their agendas).
As painstaking as doing research can be, it IS the essence of your research essay. Sometimes, navigating search engines and locating those sources is the most overwhelming part. Utilizing some of the sources I recommend for searching can make it easier to locate the scholarly and peer-reviewed articles you need. Once you’ve found a few, then do a little source credibility evaluation to see if it should be used for your research. Of course, some of it is subjective to your own judgement as well as your professor’s guidelines. However, if you’re feeling a little stuck, just reference that list!
Good luck with your researching endeavors, and please come see us in the Writing Center at ANY point in your research essay writing process, because we can help you in any way, shape, or form 🙂
~ Lauren