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DigiLabOnboard – Navigating Academic Search Engines

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DigiLabOnboard – Navigating Academic Search Engines
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Transcript: English(auto-generated)
This is an instructional video on how to navigate academic search engines to find research papers of interest. One of the most widely used websites is PubMed, where you can search for literature by simply typing keywords in the search bar.
Let's look at the results after searching for ATP synthase. Initially, over 16,000 results are obtained, which can be sorted based on your preference.
As for narrowing down of results, PubMed allows for application of many filters. If you are interested in more recent publications, the date can be set by scrolling to the desired year.
Otherwise, you can simply select the options as indicated. Depending on the accessibility of the papers, you can look for abstracts, full text, or only free text, as some of the papers require payments for access. Next, you can search based on the type of article you are interested in. Is it a clinical trial,
or is it a review paper of the topic? Additional filters can be applied, such as more specific article types, species, language, and so on.
In blue is the name of the paper, followed by the names of the authors. In the middle portion, it is stated that this is a free article, so no payment is needed for access, and that this is a review paper.
After opening the link, the first thing written at the top of the article is information such as the journal of the paper, date published, volume and issue, including DOI, a number specific to this paper. When wanting to cite such papers, it is possible to simply click on Cite on the right side of the article. All the previously mentioned information is now composed in a
citation format, which can also be changed based on what is required. The citation can be saved or copied to be added to your report. By scrolling down, you notice that only the abstract is evident. To access the full paper,
PubMed provides with direct links to the full text. Having opened the link, you can now go through the whole paper and even download it in a PDF format. If there is still further reading needed, you can always scroll down and find articles similar to the one you have just read. Below that, you can also find what papers
have cited the current article, but also what papers have been cited in the current article. Terms such as and, or, and not can be integrated in your search to specify what you are looking for. For example, by typing skin cancer and sunscreen, you will obtain papers which contain both of the key terms.
On the contrary, by typing cancer not melanoma, all the papers which contain the term melanoma will be omitted from the search.
This is usually not recommended since you might miss out on papers which are relevant to your research, but have melanoma written, for example, in the abstract or introduction and are consequently excluded. Finally, by typing skin cancer or melanoma, you will find papers which have either of the two terms.
Another helpful tool is using the asterix. For example, by typing mammalian cell asterix,
you will obtain papers with different variations of the root phrase, such as mammalian cell, but also mammalian cells, and so on.
Another widely used search engine is Google Scholar. Let's compare the process of finding research papers by going back to our well-known ATP synthase. By typing ATP synthase in the search box, over a million results are obtained.
Firstly, the layout of the preview is similar to that of PubMed. First is the title of the paper, then the authors, further information such as citations, and so on. Google Scholar also provides filters to narrow down your search. On the left side, you can narrow down the period of publication, sort the results either by relevance or date of publication,
filter out any types of articles, and even receive notifications for future publications. By clicking on the first result, we are taken to a review paper. As before, detailed information regarding the paper is found at the beginning, followed by the DOI citation engine, and so on.
Despite having found a paper on either of the websites, always make sure that it is firstly relevant to your topic, and secondly reviewed, as the quality of the papers differs amongst journals. Citation is very important in the field of research, so always keep track of your references, and utilize multiple sources for a well-rounded project.