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4.3: Select Where to Search

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    Consider: Search tools \(\PageIndex{1}\)

    Where do you typically search for citations for research papers or class assignments? Do you use one tool or multiple tools?

    Possible Answers

    There's no "right" answer, since the question is what you use. However, some possibilities might be:

    • Google Scholar
    • EBSCO
    • Specific databases
    • ChatGPT or other GenAI tools

    Search Tools

    There are three main categories of tools that can help you find sources. Below is a brief explanation of each of these larger categories:

    Web Search Engines

    The most familiar example of a search engine is Google, but several others work similarly (e.g. Bing). These are powerful tools, particularly for finding websites, not scholarly sources. Websites might be useful for your research if you're looking for any of the following:

    • Statistics related to your topic
    • Organizations involved in your area (e.g. professional organization's website)
    • Media - both social media & traditional news) - to get a sense of voices outside academia on this topic

    Google Scholar is another example of a search engine. While it provides scholarly citations, it still is pulling from the open web, like Google. In addition to finding citations, Google Scholar can help find Case Studies. While this is useful if you want to find a specific legal case study. However, using Google to find broader government or legal information is often simpler. We'll cover this a bit further in Unit 6.

    Library Tools

    These include any of the tools libraries provide, including:

    Library Databases

    Key traits of library databases:

    • Discipline-specific - many databases focus on particular areas of study, such as Education or Psychology & Counseling. Some cover a wide range of fields.
    • Curated citations - Experts in the database's discipline decide which journals are included in the database.
    • Organized - Indexers categorize each citation. This allows us to narrow using filters; to search by author, title, or subject terms. You can think of these as "tags", but they are applied by people who work for the database, not by the authors.

    Many databases include citations for peer reviewed journal articles. Databases might also books, videos, trade journals, magazines, and more. While many databases include the full text of the citations, not all do. Your library will likely have a way for you to link to the full text or to request the full text through Interlibrary Loan.

    Some libraries allow you to search across multiple databases. This will expand your results, but removes some of the useful filters specific to each database. So while this can be useful to a quick, broad search, if you want more refinement, I recommend selecting a few that are relevant to your topic and searching them separately. For example, in a psychological database, APA PsycInfo, you can filter by age of participants or by methodology type.

    Library Catalog and Library Discovery Tools

    The library catalog shows you what a library owns. However, more common now is to have a discovery tool which combines the traditional catalog with the ability to find citations your library might not own, but can request for you through Interlibrary Loan. Since this is a very broad search, it's usually best to find books on a topic, or to find the full text of a specific citation.

    Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI)

    As of mid-2025, some examples include Elicit, Research Rabbit and Scite. Other AI tools, such as ChatGPT are better used to edit writing, rather than find citations. Some library tools do include an AI element or the ability to turn on an AI search, while others do not. Given the rapidity with which GenAI is learning and new tools are being created, if you are interested in using AI tools for your research, I recommend you check with your librarian who will have more up-to-date information than this workbook. At this time, while GenAI has some exciting uses, I have not found it useful in finding citations for the following reasons:

    • Many AI tools "hallucinate" or create citations which do not exist
    • AI tools often do not have access to articles which are not available on the open web, so these tools cannot recommend some resources your library can access
    • They often lack filters available in library databases.

    Distinctions between Search Engines & Library Databases:

    Search Engines vs Library Databases
     

    Search Engines
    (e.g. Google Scholar)

    Databases
    (e.g. APA PsycInfo)
    Structure Algorithms Experts organize content
    Search terms Keywords, only Indexed fields (author, subjects, etc.)
    Reliability May include predatory journals1  Limited to vetted journals & sources
    Filters Limited filters Extensive, discipline-specific filters

    Select Tools

    Reflect \(\PageIndex{1}\)

    Consider which tools will be most useful based on your topic. If you're not sure, check with your librarian!

    Text Box

    Now, choose one database to start. You'll use it to find sources throughout the rest of this unit.

    Text Box

    1: For more information about predatory journals, see this tutorial from Princeton University Library.

    This page titled 4.3: Select Where to Search is shared under a CC BY-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Frances Brady.