2. Do some background research to see how others have discussed that topic.
Can you find any discussion or analysis of your topic in the news media, on the Web, or in academic literature?
3. Ask questions related to your topic. Then ask whether those questions are worth trying to answer.
Will you be able to find good quality evidence to support your arguments?
4. Choose one of those questions, refine it, and determine how you will answer it.
Books provide a in-depth investigation of a topic
Some books are written by experts in the field and cite the sources they use.
They take a long time to write and publish, so information may not be as current as some other sources.
Not all books take scholarly approaches to the topic or cite their sources.
Some books do go through a review process involving other experts in the field (e.g. textbooks and books published by university presses or academic publishing companies), but that isn't always the case.
Not all of the books in the MRU Library are scholarly - look for ones that list the authors and what universities they are affiliated with, and provide references throughout. Use LibrarySearch to search for both print and electronic books in our collection.
Scholarly articles report on new research findings.
They are written by experts and reviewed by experts before they are published (peer review).
They list their sources so that you can judge the quality of their evidence (list of references).
They are written for experts in the field, so they may use terminology that you are not familiar with. Be patient, give yourself lots of time to read the article, and don’t be afraid to look up unfamiliar words or concepts in a dictionary.
Most scholarly articles are not freely available through Google. However, the library pays for access to this material on your behalf. Use LibrarySearch to find them.
Governments, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) like Amnesty International, inter-governmental organizations (IGOs) like the United Nations, and non-profit agencies, organizations, and research institutes conduct research and share findings on their websites.
There is some control around what gets published/posted. However, we wouldn't consider them to be peer reviewed.
Not all of the web pages are updated frequently - always check for the date it was last updated.
Sometimes these sources do not provide references or citations, or list the authors involved in their creation so we can judge their expertise.
Sometimes, government policies clash with the opinions of researchers working in the field (for example, the debate over the expansion of coal mining in Alberta).
Try to identify which organizations or departments work in the area of your topic. Search for documents and websites from those specific agencies. (E.g. https://albertawilderness.ca/)
Things to remember when using Library Search:
Sign in to save searches, items, and to request materials.
Use the pin icon to save books and articles.
Use the filters on the right. You will use Availability, Resource Type, and Date filters most often.
Some items won't be available. You can request unavailable items using interlibrary loan.
When viewing an item record, scroll down to the Get It or Full Text section to get the item.
You can search in a way to combine or omit different terms by telling the search engine exactly what you want…this can help you save some time (and frustration!)
Use quotation marks to keep phrases together - "pay equity"
Use AND to combine search terms - "pay gap" AND faculty
Use OR to connect two or more similar terms - "pay equity" OR "equal pay"
Use wild cards to substitute a letter or suffix with a symbol - Canad* (Canada, Canadian, Canadians, etc.)
Google Scholar is another great way to find peer-reviewed/scholarly material. Google scholar has a nifty citation chaining function. The Cited by function will forward you to indexed scholarly material that has cited an article that you may be interested in. The Related Articles link will direct you to similar articles that may have the same metadata or keywords.
The Advanced Search is found by clicking the menu icon (top left).
Besides providing links to articles in MRU databases, Google Scholar links to online repositories that contain articles the author has been allowed to upload. Academia.edu and ResearchGate are among the repositories searched by Google Scholar.
By clicking on the Settings icon, you can select library links to show library access for up to 5 libraries (type in Mount Royal and click on save). If you are logged into MRU library, links should automatically populate if you are running a Google search in another window.
Note: Google uses different commands: ~; -; +; but AND/OR also works
If you are searching Google (not Google Scholar), you can also limit your search to show specific websites. Eg:
Citation Resources
hese advanced Google search options canl help you find useful, credible information on the open web.
Use site: to look for resources from trustworthy web domains.
Other options
