- A Research Process
- Objectives
- Steps in a Research Process
- Managing an Extended Research Process
- Research or Empirical Research Studies
- Literature Reviews
Research or Empirical Research Studies, page 1 of 3
Some professors may want students to use only refereed articles that are "research studies" or "empirical research" (these are examples of primary sources). The author conducts an original study, not just a "review of the literature." Research studies generally include sections such as "methodology," "results," and "discussion." Several of the library's online databases enable search capabilities for research studies. And a careful reading of an article's abstract usually tells you whether it is a research study or not.
Let's look for a reseach study on Internet usage. We will use EBSCO's Academic Search Premier for this specific example. In the text box (red rectangle) we have typed in this search strategy:
- Internet AND (use OR usage) AND research AND findings
This search strategy reads as:
- find articles that include the words "Internet", "research" and "findings." We also want articles concerning use and usage, so we have included both with the Boolean search operator "OR."
Also, we have checked the box for "Peer Reviewed" to limit our search to articles in scholarly journals only (red arrow).
