Tools for Writers: advanced research
As a chartered librarian, research is one of my 'things'. I have previously written about using the internet for research. Today I will be discussing web monitoring services, and resources for in-depth research.
Monitoring tools
If you are working on a project where you need to keep abreast of developments, or where you find yourself doing repetitive searches regularly, then it is worth setting up alerts, which will notify you of any change or new article using your key words.
One of the easiest ways to do this is to use Google Alerts. You will need a Google account,which is free. it's easy to set up alerts on the keywords (search terms) of your choice.
Feedly allows you to monitor updates on specific websites of your choice. There is a free to use version, and a paid version. It is simple to set up, an means you only have to check one page to see what has happened on the sites you follow.
Most search engines do not search all of the internet. If you want to dig deeper, then it's worth knowing other routes to search. All of these sites offer good, quality information.
Grey literature refers to technical or research reports, doctoral dissertations, conference papers and official documentation which is not readily available or searchable through a conventional search engine. This site will help you identify and track down reports and data from reputable sources which can be used in your research.
This site offers access to the 'World's great literature' and includes over 56 000 books that you can download for free.
British Library Digital Collections
The British library is a legal deposit library for the UK. This means that by law, a copy of every book / journal / newspaper ever published in the UK needs to be sent to the library. In America, the Library of Congress performs this function. This means if you are struggling to track down an out of print work, your country's legal deposit library is a valuable resource.
it is free to join the BL, and access to their reading rooms does require membership. But they have also been working on digitizing their resources, and many of these are available for free from their Digital Collections.
Where they have commercial partners assisting with the digitization process, the resources are only available for a fee.
This site allows you to search and download over 475 000 doctoral theses.
For statistical research, it's hard to beat this site, which gives a range of statistics in both visual and written formats.
Google have been systematically digitizing books from around the world. While you may not be able to read an entire book on this site, you can usually read enough to find the information you want on a subject.
Purchased Databases
Scholarly research and peer reviewed journals are often not available without paying for them. However, if you talk to your local library, they often have subscriptions to these databases, and you can use your membership to access their range of e-books and e-resources. These are good quality, authoritative articles written by experts in the field. Examples which cover a wide range of subjects include: Emerald Insight ; Ebsco host
It is sometimes possible to purchase copies of individual articles from these sources.
Wikipedia list of scholarly sources
If you still haven't found what you need, then Wikipedia lists a range of scholarly databases, some for free, some available on subscription.
This list is by no means comprehensive, as new sites are continually in dvelopment, but will give you a good start to your research.
As a writer, it's important to get your facts straight, and that means finding information from reputable sources. These resources will help you to do this. Happy researching!