Literature Review
- Planning a Literature Review (video)
- Powerpoint presentation (.pptx)
- example (chapters 2 and 4; page 63 for methodology)
- Kader, S. (2016). Development of hospice environmental assessment protocol (HEAP): A post occupancy evaluation tool
Predatory Journals
- International observatory targets predatory publishers (Times Higher Education, Dec 29, 2019)
- The undercover academic keeping tabs on ‘ predatory’ publishing (Nature, March 16, 2018)
- How Academia, Google Scholar And Predatory Publishers Help Feed Academic Fake News (Forbes, Dec 16, 2016)
- Ideal Journal of Psychology and Theology (example)
- Beall's list (wikipedia page)
What is a library database?
- in other words, Why can't I just use Google Scholar?
Navigating Library Databases
Well developed research questions can only be developed with a comprehensive understanding of prior research and theory. This understanding is informed by research literature. The challenge is to use the appropriate tools and methods to ensure your search for this literature is both methodical and complete. Here are some steps to fine-tune your searches.
- Formulate specific research questions
- identify the key elements of your questions
- Consider word variations and synonyms
- widen the scope of your results; think about how others might refer to your ideas
- e.g, academic outcomes = school performance, grades, GPA, entrance exams, college admission, etc.
- Use Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT)
- AND = results will contain all the terms
- OR = results will contain at least one of the terms
- NOT = results will exclude the term
- Parentheses and Boolean operators can be used to set apart search groups
- NEAR/# = search terms within a specified number of words apart, e.g., nursing NEAR/3 education
- Limit or expand terms
- "quotation marks" = exact
- truncat* = truncate, truncates, truncated, truncation, etc.
- Employ search limiters (available limiters depend on the database)
- peer reviewed, article type, date
- in PsycINFO, can include
- age group, population group, methodology
- Identify key publications and authors
- note citations, and cited references, repeated author names
- Document and track everything you do in the steps above
* These steps are adapted from an article published in the October 2013 issue of Psychological Science Agenda.
Choosing a Library Database
- What is Proquest and what is EBSCO?
- create accounts in either/both to save results and searches
- Can't I search them all at one time?
- PsycINFO (APA)
- contains bibliographic records of scholarly research material centred on psychology and the behavioral and social sciences
- highly developed fields, including the APA classification code
- ATLA Religion Database
- contains bibliographic records of academic articles in the area of religion
- basic (compared to PscyINFO) fields
- Other relevant databases
Research Methodologies
The Laurier Library also many resources devoted to research methodologies. Search Omni (and filter for books) for some of these terms: Action research; Case study; Field research; Grounded theory; Qualitative research; Quantitative research; Survey research; Textual Analysis. Also look at the online titles contained in our Sage Knowledge resource.
Books
- Omni to identify books at Laurier and other Omni libraries
- Where are the books?
If you cannot find the item in Omni
- Requesting Interlibrary Loans video (2:26)
- Use WorldCat to identify books available in other libraries. Use RACER to have books sent to Laurier
- Search within ebook collections to search within the full text of available books (as opposed to searching just the title in Omni)