There are differing opinions on whether brainstorming should come first or if research should come first. In the case of essays, term papers, and other noncreative, academic writing, it is helpful to have as much information about your topic as possible before brainstorming how to write the paper.

If you have not chosen a topic, then brainstorming ideas would be followed by research, which in turn would be followed by additional brainstorming about the actual paper itself.

Your instructor assigned a term paper that requires using two or more "scholarly" sources. What does that mean? How do you find scholarly sources? Why can't you use newspapers, magazines, websites, etc.?

Peer-reviewed articles (also known as "scholarly articles" or "academic articles") are articles that have been reviewed and approved as valid and relevant by experts within a particular field of study.

Instructors might require students to use only peer-reviewed material as part of assignment guidelines.

To locate peer-reviewed articles within Ivy Tech databases, try these search tips:

1. Locate the appropriate search filter by scrolling through delimiter options on the search page.  The database aggregate EBSCOhost, for example, provides a delimiter that refines search results for only peer reviewed articles.

2. Look for additional filters that might appear under a different name. For example, other resources like Social Sciences Full Text offer an option to select "Academic Journal" as a Publication Type.  This filter returns only search results from journals that specialize in providing scholarly peer-reviewed resources.

3. Look for databases that specialize in offering only scholarly material. Databases like the Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection only publish peer-reviewed, academic articles, so no filter is typically necessary when searching this resource, unless you wish to select a particular document type within the database, like a case study.

The following databases are some of the most commonly used academic databases available from the Ivy Tech Library Website.

See the videos on this page as well as the Boolean box to the right for tips on how to effectively search the databases using Boolean search terms.

If the academic databases available through the Ivy Tech Library do not provide enough information on your chosen topic, Google Scholar searches scholarly sources available freely online.

Google Scholar should not be a first choice for academic essays, as the articles may or may not be the preferred peer-reviewed type, but it is better than a general internet search.

When searching for a topic by keyword, it is helpful to use Boolean operators - words that help narrow or broaden your search. There are three primary Boolean operators, each used in capital letters in your search, that may help you.

AND

Use when you have more than one search term and want all the words to be in the articles you look at

Example: nursing AND pediatric, when you only want to see articles about pediatric nursing

OR

when you have more than one possible search term, and any of them would be acceptable

Example: asthma OR emphysema, when you want articles about chronic breathing illnesses but do not care which illness

NOT

Use when you have a broad search term but do not want to see articles about some topics that may fall under that category.

Example: nursing NOT pediatric, when you want to see articles about nursing care but not about working with children

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