CHEM 4750: Chemistry Seminar

Conducting searches for quality information sources is a skill that takes time to learn. There are many challenges from figuring out what to search (search terms), to where to search (databases, Google, etc.), to how to search (developing strategies, effectively using tools), each of which take time and practice to acquire.

Here are some search strategies that you can employ in your own research process. If your initial approach doesn't work, don't worry. Try a different combination of words and concepts until you get the results you want. Research is a process and sometimes it takes several attempts to get the search results you want. 

• Create search term list – record synonyms and any related terms as you learn them 
• Search in more than one place - Different search tools have access to different groupings of sources
  • Google and Google Scholar search the open web, which is expansive but a lot of stuff may not be accessible
  • The Library Search (Library website homepage), does an expansive/wide search of Library resources but is not always very deep and can miss things
  • Different databases have access to different collections of information, even databases that cover the same disciplines. They may have some overlap but they will also have access to different sources. 
• Use filters (usually along the left side) to narrow search results - such as date, source type, language, etc.
• Try to avoid phrases as much as possible - keep search terms simple
• Use quotation marks (“”) to group words together
  • Ex: “carbon dioxide” “greenhouse gases” “carbon nanotube”
• Expand your search with a wildcard - use the asterisk (*) to search for variations of a word
  • Ex: chemi* → chemistry, chemical, chemically, etc.

Skip the single search box and use advanced searching with multiple search boxes:

• In each search box = individual concept

• Different concepts linked by AND → narrow results
• Like terms/synonyms linked by OR → more results

Every article found represents 3 possible uses:

1. Use the information found in the article itself
2. Cited Sources - Mine the citations in the article for potential new sources
3. Times Cited - Use Google Scholar to see articles that have cited this article

Understand & Use the Parts of the Article

• Abstract
  • Summary of the article
  • While searching use this to determine if you save the article 
• Introduction
  • Should make it clear what the research question/hypothesis is
  • Provide background/context
  • Should answer why is the research important
• Methods
  • How was the research done
  • Depending on your needs, this section may/may not be important to you - might just need to skim
• Results
  • Just the data - usually no analysis (that is the Discussion) 
  • Look at the visuals - graphs, tables, charts, illustrations, etc.
• Discussion/Conclusion
  • Analysis of results - the “meat” of the article
  • Should include potential biases 
  • Note any potential gaps in research, next steps, unanswered questions
• References (aka Bibliography, Works Cited, Footnotes, etc.)
  • Mine this for more sources (Review articles are HUGE goldmines of citations!)
• Take it to the next step! Search for times cited
  • Google Scholar - search article title to see how has cited it!
  • Follow research forward to see how others have used the article in their own research 

Read Out of Order & Multiple Times

• No need to read from first to last page - read in an order that makes sense to you
• Read more than once! Research articles are difficult to read and understand 
• Make notes - highlight things that don’t make sense, add your own comments/questions, etc.
• Ask questions - What are the paper’s main contributions? Do the assumptions appear to be valid? Do other articles support or counter the findings/conclusions?