Skip to Main Content

Exploratory Studies Research Guide

Understanding Scholarly Research

Reading scholarly articles can seem intimidating, but it doesn’t have to be! This module will go over tips to make identifying, reading, and understanding articles more manageable. You'll learn how to identify a scholarly article, what the different parts of a scholarly article are and then go over ways to read each part quickly and efficiently. Finally, it will look at a few ways to keep track of what you learn from scholarly articles so you can use that information in your research assignment.

Creative Commons License

 

Searching Using Keywords

Keywords module homepageThis module will guide you through identifying the main ideas within your research topic or question and how to brainstorm keywords to use when searching in the library databases.

Since each database can categorize the main concepts of your research  under a different subject heading, it is important to brainstorm different words authors may use for your topic so that you have alternate search options if you have difficulty finding resources.

When you select the module, the tutorial will open in a new webpage and will begin automatically. You can pause the tutorial using the seek bar at the bottom of the player. Audio and video transcripts are available in the notes section of the tutorial.

Creative Commons License

Evaluating Resources Tutorial


evaluating resources tutorialThis module will guide you through evaluating resources using the Five W's.

The Five W's look at the who, what, when, where and why of a resource. Questions to ask within each category are provided so that you can begin to evaluate resources you find in the library to determine their appropriateness for your own research.

When you select the module, the tutorial will open in a new webpage and will begin automatically. You can pause the tutorial using the seek bar at the bottom of the player.  Audio and video transcripts are available in the notes section of the tutorial.

Creative Commons License