ENGL 105, Academic Writing (Jacqueline Taylor): Periodical Articles Search Tips

When you need current, up-to date information. Remember that journal articles in peer-reviewed journals assume that you know about the subject. If you are looking for introductory information you need to look for books.

The following strategies can be useful in helping you identify a research article:

1. Analyse your topic statement for search terms
   • Change any question into a statement.
   • Identify the important ideas or concepts within your topic statement - these are usually nouns (or short phrases containing a noun)
   • Nouns make the best search words, so turn any important verbs into nouns first



2. Connect different concepts with "and"; connect similar (or synonymous) concepts with "or." You also need to use quotation marks to search complete phrases.
   
   



3. Be sure to read the abstracts - they will often reveal enough "clues" to tell you if the article is relevant or not.



4. If you do not find articles that interest you, look at your results. See if there are new words or new search terms that you can use that will help you improve your search.