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WRIT 1120: Seminar in Research Writing: Academic Research

Common research strategies for writing courses

Find Academic Sources

Now that you've gathered background information and refined your research question, let's search for some sources that address your focused research question more specifically. 

Review your assignment. How many and what kinds of sources do you need to use? Most instructors require you to use at least some academic or scholarly articles because these are the sources that serve as the record of the scholarly conversation surrounding your research question. Databases are the best tools for finding these kinds of sources.

Search for academic sources using databases

What is a database?

Databases are tools you can use to search the content within them. The databases provided by the BGSU Libraries contain and organize content from scholarly journals, trade publications, magazines, newspapers, eBooks, and more.

Which database should I use?

We recommend Academic Search Complete as a good starting point for any WRIT 1120 student because it is a general database, meaning there are a variety of subjects represented within it.

This database looks more complicated than Google. Do I need to know anything special about using it?

Yes! See the "search strategies" tab for more information about how to search databases effectively.

How do I know if an article is scholarly?

You will see "academic journal" icons in your search results in EBSCO databases to indicate that the item was published in an academic journal. However, there are several types of articles that can be published in academic journals, and not all of them will be suitable for your assignment. Thus, you will still need to examine each article to be sure that it meets the requirements of your assignment and is relevant to your research question. If you are unsure, ask your instructor for clarification.

The handout below provides descriptions of the different types of articles published in academic journals.

Specialized library research databases

You may need to use a more specialized research database depending on how discipline-specific your topic is. For example, if you select a topic that has something to do with teacher compensation at charter schools, you would need to use an education database that has more in-depth coverage than what Academic Search Complete provides.

Use our A-Z databases link (below) for an alphabetical list of research databases. You can get to the same list from the library home page by using the link labeled "all databases".

Videos

This video linked below demonstrates how to use our A-Z databases list, including how to narrow the list to the most appropriate databases for your specific subject area.