AEE 524 Dr. Waters Research Process Diana Holden Agricultural Sciences

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AEE 524 -- Dr. WatersResearch ProcessDiana
HoldenAgricultural Sciences Natural Resources
Librarian(865) 974-2886dholden_at_utk.edu
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Scholarly literature

• What is it?
• Why do you need it?
• How do you find it in the library?

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Primary Literature

• Presents results of original research
• peer reviewed, refereed, scientific or scholarly
• The first publication of original research
  results

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Primary Literature

• Information presented in a standard form such as
  IMRAD
• Introduction
• Materials Methods
• Results AND
• Discussion

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Primary Literature

• Published in a journal or other source document
  readily available in the scientific community
• Audience other researchers

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Secondary Literature

• Summarizes, analyzes , evaluates or synthesizes
  information that has already been published
• Examples of formats
• Textbooks, handbooks, government publications,
  position papers
• Newspapers, magazines, newsletters, radio
  broadcasts

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Tertiary Literature

• Guide books or articles that describe primary
  and secondary sources.

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Types of Information sources

• Serials
• Periodicals
• Magazine
• Journals
• Monographs

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Serial

• A publication which is expected to continue to be
  published indefinitely.
• Serials can be magazines, newspapers, books in
  series, etc.

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Periodical

• A serial published at regular intervals
• weekly
• monthly
• semiannually, etc.

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Magazine

• Usually a popular periodical.
• not scholarly, not referenced, not esoteric
• author is not necessarily expert in topic.
• contain advertisements
• lavishly illustrated
• examples Time, Newsweek, Forbes, Consumer
  Reports

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Journal

• When used in the academic sense, alludes to the
  peer-review process of scientific publication.
• few advertisements
• paged throughout volume
• cited references and footnotes
• editorial board, longer publication frequency.

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Journal

• Examples
• American Journal of Distance Education
• Applied Measurement in Education
• Abstracted/indexed in one or more of the major
  secondary services.
• ERIC, Web of Science, CAB, Agricola, JSTOR

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Research Process -- Planning

• Develop a plan for searching
• What type of information is needed?
• Do you need books or journal articles?
• How current does your information need to be?
• How much information is required
• Do you need a comprehensive search of the journal
  literature?

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Identify the Topic

• Clearly define your topic
• State your topic as a question. What do you hope
  to learn from this research?
• Identify its major concepts
• These should be keywords and terms that you can
  begin to build a search upon

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Separate the concepts

• Separate the different concepts into chunks of
  information.
• You are looking for ways to make the search
  process move more smoothly. Put similar ideas
  together

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List keywords synonyms

• Expand each concept
• Take the concepts and build on each idea
• Think of synonyms for your terms, related
  keywords
• Brainstorm as many related concepts as possible
  this will make your search process move more
  quickly

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Connect the concepts

• Use Boolean logic to connect concepts in order to
  further refine your search strategy.

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Boolean logic

• AND always narrows your search
• OR always expands your search

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Boolean AND
http//www.library.kent.edu/page/10663
http//kathyschrock.net/rbs3k/boolean/
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Boolean OR
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Create a Search Strategy

• Write out your search strategy.
• Using the tips above, decide how you are going to
  search.
• Search all or one concept across many databases
• Search all concepts within one database
• Keep track of what you search and where so that
  you can make any necessary revisions

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Choose appropriate databases

• Identify databases to search
• Use the UTK Libraries database page to find the
  most appropriate databases.
• Search for databases by looking under the subject
  headings, the alphabetical listing, or the find
  box.

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Search Databases

• Search the databases using your search strategy.
• The databases will look different from each
  other, but the basic concepts are the same.

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Evaluate modify the search

• As you compile results take a look at what type
  of information your search is returning.
• Make any necessary modifications to your search
  strategy.
• Brainstorm based on results you are getting from
  the database. Incorporate any new terminology or
  concepts you find.

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Synthesize information

• Absorb the information you find and write your
  paper.

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Final Thoughts

• Make an appointment with a librarian to start you
  on your literature review.
• Begin as early as possible.
• Be patient and persistent.
• Refine your search as you go along.