Welcome

Learning how to research is an important skill. The details for each step of the research process will vary depending on your assignment. Having a research strategy will help you focus your topic, organize your searches, and manage your time more efficiently.

The research process takes time and effort; you may not find what you're looking for on the first try, nor should you expect to be finished in a few hours.

When conducting research, you should be aware that not all scientific articles are the same. Here are some key features of the different types of writing you may come across in your searching:

Peer-Reviewed (Scholarly) Articles

• Original research written by scholars/researches often for a university or laboratory
• Include an abstract and a bibliography
• Use discipline-specific language

Popular/News Articles

• Written by journalists or write who may not have content area expertise
• Rarely have an abstract or bibliography
• Use language for a general audience

Abstract, Conference Publication/Presentation, Dissertation Proposal

• Written by graduate students or content area specialists
• Provide brief descriptions of original research; may not be published (or compete)
• Useful when looking for recent research in the scientific community

Review Articles

• Overview of a field or subject; often synthesize previous research in that field
• Useful when conducting background research or a literature review (or finding additional references)

Clinical Trials/Clinical Study

• Individual or group study on patients at a clinical or medical practice
• Summarize the signs, symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment of a disease.

Meta-Analysis

• Procedure for combining data from multiple studies; if treatment effect (or effect size) is consistent across several studies a meta-analysis can be conducted
• No new experimentation is completed; data is combined from several trials to see if any patterns emerge
• Commonly done in the medical field

Perspective/Opinion Article

Book Review