Wolves Research! using Historical Thinking Concepts
Video Tips
IB Research: Searching Beyond the Basics from Justice Library, Ms. Ji
IB Research: Enhancing a Search Using Searching Terms from Justice Library, Ms. Ji
IB Research: Conducting Better Searches using Search Terms from Justice HS, Ms. Rogers
IB Research: What are primary and secondary sources? from the University of Houston Libraries
What does "scholarly" mean?
Video Tip: Scholarly and Popular Sources (from Carnegie Vincent, a University Library)
When conducting research, it is important to know the differences between academic journal articles and magazine articles.
- Academic journal articles are referred to as "scholarly." These articles peer-reviewed or evaluated by a panel of experts before publication.
- Magazine and news articles are considered "popular." Articles written by journalists are reviewed by an editor, but not by a panel of experts.
- Reference and encyclopedia entries are summaries of knowledge distilled from original sources and compiled by editors. These offer a broad overview of a topic, but are of limited value in academic research.
Adapted from Scholarly and Popular Materials (NCSU Libraries)
Databases vs. Websites
It is fine to Google your topic and explore the search results. Be sure to use the sources authored by someone who has expertise in the field or has relevant evidence to support his/her claims made in the source. Not sure what the differences are between a database and a website?
Databases
- Paid for by the library
- Cannot be searched in Google
- Includes sources written by professors, scholars, journalists, "smart people", etc.
- Authority of information is verified by experts.
Websites
- Access is free. No one is paying for the content.
- Anyone can publish a website. The information included might not verified by anyone.
- Can be searched in a variety of search engines, including Google.
- Must examine with a critical eye!
Sourced from Lewis High School Library