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Use for Research
How to Use Journals
You can use journals for research in a number of ways. Here is how to find specific journal articles:
- Know the title. If you know the title of the study, this will help you find the article quickly.
- Know the authors. The more of the authors you know from the journal article, the more you will be able to narrow search results.
- Know the journal name. If you look up the journal you need, this can direct you to a search portal that can then allow you to find what you need or similar articles.
- Know the date of publication. Finding out the date of publication also limits your search.
Once you have this information, it will be easier to find the actual article. After you have the article available, you can use it to do the following:
- Support your research. If a journal article supports something you want to show in your research, this will bolster the strength of your writing.
- Show a different angle to the journal findings. When you read a journal article, you can be inspired to take a new direction with the same sort of study.
- Show past work in the same topic. In order to establish context for your research, journal articles will help show there is a history that is present in your field.
With academic journals, you might encounter some issues in trying to interpret them easily. Here are some ways you can make the most of the articles you find and choose the ones that you need:
- Read the abstracts. Each article or journal should have abstracts that are a part of the publication. This allows you to have a basic idea of what the paper includes and how it might be related to your research needs.
- Read the conclusions. You also will want to look for the conclusions of the journal article and paper. This will allow you to see whether the thesis was supported or not.
- Go to the school Web site. When the article has been created by students at a school, they might post their project online and describe it in simpler terms there.
- Contact the authors. If you cannot understand what the authors were trying to say, it might help to contact the authors and ask questions for clarity.
The more that you can find academic articles, the stronger your research results will be. Even if you find that no one else is studying what you want to study, this too is valuable information.
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