What Are Some Good Resources to Use to Do Scientific Research?

Scientific research is one of the most important parts of your life as a scientist. You spend hours and hours in the laboratory, trying to understand the world around you and discover how to make the world a better place. 

Students and researchers conducting studies in various fields rely heavily on scientific articles and journals. E-libraries come into play when there is a need to access articles beyond what is available in the university library.

In this post, we’ll take a look at some good resources to use to do scientific research to aid you in your study.

Google Scholar 

We will start with one of the most popular and widely known resources, google scholar. When in a hurry to find a supporting document or article it is easy to just search your favourite browser. Although this may come up with some results, you will find that most are unsuitable for use in research. 

Google Scholar is a collection of scholarly literature which allows you to access peer reviews, literature reviews, papers, dissertations, journal articles. After searching your keyword(s), you will find that most, if not all, of the results can be appropriately used in your studies as it comes up with both physical and online copies.

National Geographic – Science and Space

Covering an extensive range of topics including archaeology, technology, space, the prehistoric world, the Earth, and health and the human body (just to name a few!), the national geographic site is an excellent website to gather scientific information for research.

Their groundbreaking scientific fieldwork explores new knowledge which can form the foundation of many studies to further ideas and questions. 

ScienceDirect 

This is one of the Internet’s leading scientific databases with over 2,500 journals and almost 20,000 books – that adds up to a lot of articles and book chapters! It offers information in almost all aspects of science including computer and technology, biology, chemistry, environmental sciences and social sciences. 

Educational Resources Information Center

Also known as ERIC, the Educational Resources Information Center has an admirable 1.3 million articles and online materials for you to complete your research. This resource includes a whole array of resources from conference papers, technical reports, government policy papers and many more. 

BioOne 

Ideal for biological, environmental and ecological sciences, BioOne has quickly become a top-rated search engine for scientific information. It is relatively new compared to other search engines as it was only set up in the year 2000, but has since then grown extensively and now provides free access to over 25,000 institutions. 

How Do I Search A Scientific Database? 

Now we’ve gone through some of the best resources, you may be wondering how to personalise their use to tailor to your research needs. Here are a few simple steps to follow that can simplify your studies and reduce the time it takes to find the perfect paper. 

• Use several keywords within the search box.
• Try adding additional terms to reduce the number of off-topic results. 
• Take the time to read help pages to figure how to use each type of resource search facility. 
• Make your query more precise by using operators such as double-quote marks.

If you are still struggling to find what you’re looking for, try reading the literature, then going back and using additional searches using the jargon you’ve learnt from skimming through papers. 

How Do I Find Free Articles? 

There is nothing worse than reading the abstract of a paper that is perfect for your research, only to find out you need to pay a hefty fee to access the full article. To save you from this, here is a list of the best free online journal and research databases:

• ScienceOpen
• PubMed
• Zenodo
• BioMed Central
• CIA World Factbook
• Digital Library of the Commons Repository

Subscription fees and paywalls can be very annoying, especially when smaller schools and organizations don’t provide you with access. However most universities and research institutes often subscribe to academic search engines, so check with your education provider beforehand.