Finding and Using Web Sites
Of Course ... Google
Tips for Better Google Searches
Other Web Search Tools
Google Scholar
- Google Scholar provides access not to websites but to research articles, theses, books, etc.
- Most of the articles require you to pay to view them. The good news is that the library can give you access to many of them!
- To use Google Scholar from home, log on to your portal first to authenticate yourself with the library
- When you find an article you’re interested in, click the link and then look for "pdf" or "full text" links if the article doesn't come up right away
- Use the "Advanced Scholar Search" preferences to refine your search by discipline, date, etc.
Scirus
- Scirus is a science-specific search engine
- Search results will be both web pages and research articles
- Search results are broken down into "journal results", "preferred web results" and "other web results" (which you can normally ignore in favor of the first two)
- You can sort by relevance or by date
- You can make your search more specific by clicking on recommended keywords listed to the right-hand side after you run an initial search
Evaluating Web Sites
The web can be great for certain things, such as gaining a general sense of a topic in order to refine your research question and start your real research. However, unlike sources you obtain through the library, information on the Internet has not been "selected" by a librarian — anyone can put up a website, so quality varies widely. Refer to your project/paper guidelines to determine whether websites are acceptable for your particular project.
Tips for Evaluating Web Sources
Citing Web Sources
See our guide to Citing Web Sources in APA Style
