LibGuides: JVLR Personal Project: Research

JVLR Online Resources

Search Engines (beyond Google)

Wolfram Alpha
Compute expert-level answers using Wolfram's breakthrough algorithms, knowledgebase and AI technology
Tin Eye--reverse image search
Copy your image into the search bar and Tin Eye will find the online source.
Google Art & Culture
Explore collections and stories from around the world with Google Arts & Culture.

Writing Survey Questions
The video above is taken from this longer article from the survey experts at PEW Research. It is an excellent resource for writing survey questions.

Search Tips:

Identify Key Words: Write out questions, circle necessary words, anticipate words in the answer
Use Booleans to narrow or broaden your search (And, Or, Not)
Use truncation (*) to catch more results (for example: creat* will bring create, creation, creating...)
Use quotation marks to keep exact phrases together ("Florida Marlins")
Use wildcards (?) to catch various spellings or meanings (wom?n brings woman and women)
Use a minus sign to filter out irrelevant results (-fish)
Filter results with "Search Tools" in Google
Search for files and scans using " filetype:pdf" in a search
Limit results by domain, such as .gov .edu .cn
Limit to terms in the title of a site or article with "intitle:"

Sample Search String:

"amnesty international" iran intitle:execution* site:http://.gov "cultur* impact" -oil

Using Google? Choose Advanced Search

Build a search string with Boolify - a puzzle-style google search

Identifying the Difference between Popular and Academic/Scholarly Sources

Popular sources	Academic sources
Written by journalists, bloggers or the average Joe.	Written by academics (professors, PhD or Masters students) for other researchers in their subject area.
Do not often cite their sources.	Always include a Bibliography or a Works Cited and include footnotes or citations.
Appear in magazines, newspapers, blogs, websites or videos.	Usually appear in academic journals (print or electronic) or in print or electronic books.
Aim to inform a wide audience.	Aim to inform other researchers with some advanced knowledge of the subject.
Chosen for publication by an editor or by the writer.	Chosen for publication by a group of peers in the subject area.