New College Writing Program Library Guide

This PDF tipsheet offers 4 tips on getting started and searching with the multidisciplinary scholarly database, Academic Search Ultimate.

Scholars, such as many of your professors, conduct studies and then report the research results by presenting at conferences, writing research articles or books. Research articles, also known as empirical or primary research articles, are published in scholarly journals and are often peer reviewed. A conversation among scholars is documented over time and becomes accessible to researchers and developing scholars as they communicate about research results. Most ASU students will likely need to find research articles to learn new content, construct an informed opinion on a topic and provide quality evidence to support arguments and claims in course assignments such as papers, presentations, and posters, etc.

As you begin college-level research, you’ll have access to a wide range of information sources (from books and academic journal articles to social media posts), each with unique qualities. This tutorial is designed to help you understand the differences between these sources, so you can make informed choices based on what best supports your research.

When you search in databases, you can’t approach them like you do Google. Keywords and search connectors are essential to effective database searches. The process of generating keywords and using search connectors has two added bonuses: understanding your research topic better and helping you become a better researcher, both academically and in your leisure time. In this tutorial, you will learn the basics about searching in Google and databases and how to tailor your approach for database searches.

This interactive tutorial reviews what library databases are, how to access library databases from the ASU Library website, how to determine the appropriate database based on your topic, and what search strategies to keep in mind.