Journalism & Media Studies

Do scholarly articles mystify you? Click around this interactive website from the North Carolina State University Libraries to explore the structure of many scholarly articles and learn some of the things you can expect to find in when looking at scholarly sources: https://www.lib.ncsu.edu/tutorials/scholarly-articles/​

Here is a summary of what we practiced during the class session.

Step 1: Construct a search strategy.

• State your question as a sentence.
• Identify key concepts that must be present in the information source; use the connector AND.
• Consider related terms that might be used for a key concept; use the connector OR
• Use truncation symbol for word variations; use an * (asterisk) or most databases; Lexis/Nexis uses  ! (exclamation mark).
• Use “ “ (double quotation) for phrases. Don’t overuse phrase searching. Consider proximity connectors for phrase variation: n# or w#.

Step 2: Determine the type of information you need and where you might find it.

Available through the library. Use OneSearch or the library databases to locate:

Available in library databases  (Not found in OneSearch) 

• Data resources including country, industry, and company reports
• Case law and legal information
• Tests and Measures, and research methodology
• Images and videos

Use Internet search tool (Google, Bing, etc.)

Step 3: Evaluate your information using techniques explored in the provided evaluation models.  

• Use the Advanced Evaluation Techniques tab located on the left side of this guide to see these models  

If you need immediate assistance, check the Ask Us 24/7 link.

Good luck on your research project!

Check, Please! Starter Course teaches the SIFT (The Four Moves), a set of strategies that students could use on the web to evaluate their sources. 

http://lessons.checkplease.cc.