Creating a Search Journal

Learning about library research is an ongoing and dynamic process. We find that students and faculty often find having a search journal a helpful tool for this process. Using a search journal as a regular reflective process deepens and informs your process. What works? What doesn't?  With each journalling session you can reflect on your research process, weaving together practical discoveries with your own insights and state of mind.

The journal can take any form that works: a small handmade journal for each assigned paper, a binder full of paper, a Word document, or a Google Doc that you open and maintain every time you are online.

We suggest you follow a few helpful tips if you are starting a search journal for the first time:

The most important thing is to journal about what is useful to you. If you make it a natural part of your research, you will find that searching becomes easier.  What is the search process like for you? What are you learning from it? 

Be sure to document both useful keywords and keywords that proved to be deadends. What are their definitions and are they part of the language of a particular field? You may want to create a mindmap of terms you discover so that you can see where there may be patterns or gaps.

Document relevant authors you discover along the way. They may be future peers if this becomes your area of expertise. You can watch who cites these authors for additional good content. 

Track journal titles that address your topic. You can return to these journals when you find you want to keep up with new articles in this area.

Keep a list of databases or websites that yielded the best scholarship. You may want to use them again.

ISSSEEM Journal Archive

ISSSEEM, an organization devoted to the study of energy medicine, publishes Subtle Energies & Energy Medicine Journal and has now made their entire archive of issues available online.

The rich collection goes back to 1990 and currently include 60 issues. The collection is searchable and browsable.

They also offer a digital archive of Bridges Magazine and eSEEM Newsletter.

All about E-Books: Sofia University Library's E-book Collections Overview

E-books seem to be a hot topic in recent months. The Sofia University Library currently has a number of e-book collections with full text digital books to read and download. All e-book collections are accessible from the Access Databases page.

All e-books can be read online in your favorite browser. With some e-books, you can download and keep chapters. With some you can download and read sections on a short term basis.

PsycBooks: Chapters from 2,000 books published by APA, and other publishers, classic books in psychology, and authored entries from the APA/Oxford University Press Encyclopedia of Psychology. Chapters are downloaded as PDFs to keep. Found in the EbscoHost Database collection.

ebrary: Searchable database of over 80,000 recent full text books in many academic fields. Titles are added monthly. There are several options for reading or using the e-books in ebrary. Read online as long as you have an internet connection. Download or print sections. If you wish to download the entire text, you will need Adobe Digital Editions and the copy you download will expire in 14 days.

Springer E-Books in Behavioral Sciences: Database of over 400 books in behavioral sciences published by Springer from 2005-2013. New titles are added each year. Chapters are downloadable as PDFs to keep.

There are also smaller collections of e-books in other databases:

Counseling & Psychotherapy Transcripts: Database of therapy and counseling session transcripts that includes 40 digital reference works. Sections are printable.

Ebsco e-book Collection: Full text for selected transpersonal books. Small but growing! Found in the EbscoHost Database collection. Read online as long as you have an internet connection.

Questions? Email us your questions or set an appointment.

Betterpedia

Everyone I know has an opinion about Wikipedia. Some say it is the best resource on the web, a true collaboration of millions of participants around the world. Others say it is chock full of half truths and myths. Some scholars laud its potential, while some comedians make jokes about it.

 When I am searching the web, I play a game called Betterpedia. I don't go to the Wikipedia entry right away. I keep going down the hits to see if there is something better in terms of content and source.

What is a better source? What is better content? It depends on the question at hand.  I look for certain identifying qualities in the search engine snippet. A .gov, .org, or .edu URL that relates directly to the topic at hand. I prefer Pubmed or the Mayo Clinic if it is a health question. I try to avoid .coms if I am looking for scholarly content, but it depends on the rest of the snippet whether this might just be a great source. I ask myself, who would be the expert in this situation? Then I ask, what is better content? Does the description of the page address my question?

Notice that we started out talking about the web at large, not library databases, which are often part of the invisible web.  I may start with a search in Google but end up linking over to library databases as I discover that my answer is better found there.  The research process should always be a both/and: library databases AND the web.  The more complete your literature and media search, the better your understanding of the topic and  your literature review.

I love it when I can play Betterpedia and find the best sources: good content, reliable source. If I do go back to Wikipedia, I don't feel that I have lost. I know that there was a mostly sincere effort behind the creation of the content. I look for my answer on the page then zoom down to the sources of the content. I go to those sources as well to check out and verify that there isn't a bias or misinformation in the content. Because I have seen misinformation before in Wikipedia entries, I know that this process is necessary.

This verification process is important. Whether or not you play Betterpedia,when you search the web you should always be thinking of verification. How can you prove that what you are reading is factual or at least reasonable? Sometimes you can check other sources on the web, other times you can verify using print sources. Although we may tend to think of web sources as current and thorough, many of us have had many experiences of discovering the opposite. Being a great researcher means this verification process is thorough and consistent. Always verify and evaluate your sources.  Please note that library database content are always reliable good content. The content is carefully vetted for research purposes.

Would I cite a Wikipedia entry for a research journal article? I wouldn't cite Wikipedia unless it seemed absolutely necessary. Just as we encourage students to go to the original source, I would go to the originally cited content in the references and use that for my quote or paraphrase.  I think citing Wikipedia sends a message to the reader that I haven't done a thorough literature and media search, that I have just selected the easiest source to find. Others may have other opinions about how Wikipedia entries are perceived.

Playing Betterpedia makes the research process more fun. It challenges me to see what else is out there. I always learn something in the process. I don't hear many people talk about research as fun but it can be!

Using Research Guides

The library recently launched a series of helpful online research guides. Each guide is a website created by a Sofia librarian with direct links and instructions about library resources and web content. There are a few great guides for getting started with library research including the Find What You Need Research Guide.

Program-Centered Guides
Some of the guides have a program focus. These guides allow you to explore the best databases and web resources for your program and field. The program-centered guides include the following:

• Clinical Psychology Research Guide
• Spiritual Guidance Research Guide
• Transpersonal Psychology Research Guide
• Women's Spirituality Research Guide 

More Guides
An Alumni Guide allows alums to access resources and relevant information for their research needs. We will continue to build new guides. Please let us know if you have a suggestion for a guide.  Feedback is always welcome.

Alerts and Feeds Save Research Time

All of us have limited time to discover new research and news on our favorite academic topics. There are a few ways you can efficiently track the best and most relevant content.

1. Identify great journals. For browsing new general topic information or keeping up with your field, identify the best journals for your topic or field.
2. Track specific authors. Some authors will focus on your area of interest. Tracking their work will help you track the field. 
3. Track your topics. In tracking a topic of interest to you, it will be important to formulate your search terms carefully to keep relevance high.

In ProQuest, you can create a free account and set up unique searches and alerts. These alerts can be as simple or as sophisticated as you need so you can easily set up journal table of contents alerts, author alerts, or topic alerts. Once set up, you can decide how long to receive updates and can return to your account to modify or add to your alerts. Some of our other databases have similar features; at the moment, ProQuest is the most extensive of our database collection in terms of coverage. Consider carefully what subject areas are covered and whether the coverage will meet your research needs.

You can also set up alerts through journal publisher sites. Browse around their site until you find the RSS feed for the table of contents or other article list. Add the RSS feed to your browser or RSS reader. Sometimes, there is an email feature for new tables of contents as well.

Set up a Google Alert for unusual topics or for sites that don't have an RSS feed. This can be especially powerful for very unique topics or areas that span beyond traditional research.

Periodically review your feeds and alerts. What feeds are the most effective? What alerts are sending more than you expected? Delete, add, and adjust accordingly. These are only as good as they are useful to you. Try to be clear about how much is too much.

Beyond these general instructions, I have a few additional techniques that might be useful.

Follow a friend/colleague on a blog, Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn who seems to have his/her finger on the pulse of the topic. It is okay to let them do the work for you.  You can thank them by liking or retweeting, or by thanking them directly. If they are not yet a friend, you might contact them and arrange to talk to them the next time you are attending the same conference and buy them a cup of coffee. You probably have a lot in common.

Set up alerts to go automatically into a specific email folder. You don't have to read them if you don't have time, because you are creating an archive of your own. Search that folder using a keyword or phrase when you are ready.

Start a topic-centered blog and ask colleagues with similar interests to collaborate on the blog. This is a great way to share what you learn, even if briefly stated, and extends your reach through shared responsibility.

This process can be fun. Experiment with it and let me know if you have questions.