While I'm still working my way through
Distracted, I felt that I should identify one of the most useful starting points for general undergraduate research: the database
Academic Search Premier. One of the things that I think causes students to avoid library databases and use a simple tool such as Google is the fact that they only have to know one thing: Google. With Google, students aren't put into the position of having to decide which among several hundred databases they should start with in order to begin their research into the published literature.
When I demonstrate Academic Search Premier to students, I point out a few key features:
- checking the "Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Journals" box
- *not* checking the "Full Text" box (so that they can still find articles in full text that might be in some database *other* than Academic Search Premier)
- choosing "Find all my search terms" so that it behaves a bit more like Google
If you're just trying to introduce your students to the idea of a library database that contains peer-reviewed material, Academic Search Premier is a good starting point.
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