Discovery Search Tool

Discovery is a tool that allows you to search many of the library's databases in a single search. This means you can search for journal articles in multiple databases at one time. Discovery is a great place to start if you are still brainstorming your topic and determining which search terms work best. 

Finding Individual Databases

There are times when searching in a specific database is a better strategy for finding sources on your topic. This might be when:

• Discovery search tool is bringing back too many unrelated results
• Your topic is very subject or discipline specific
• Your search would benefit from using advanced database search features

You can use the A-Z Database link to find an alphabetical list of all the databases available in the Rasmussen University Library. Use the dropdown menus to sort the list by subject area or source type.

It's important to realize that not all scholarly articles go through the peer review process, making them "peer reviewed."

Scholarly vs Peer Reviewed

Scholarly articles are written by experts in a specific field for an audience of other experts, researchers, and students. These articles present original research, reviews, or theoretical discussions and typically include extensive references to previous studies.

Peer-reviewed journal articles, a subset of scholarly articles, undergo a rigorous evaluation process where independent experts in the same field review the manuscript before publication. This review ensures the article's validity, quality, and originality, making peer-reviewed articles a reliable source of information.

You can learn more about the peer review process in our Evaluating Sources page.

Finding Peer Reviewed Journal Articles

Article databases allow you to filter your results to those that are published within peer reviewed journals. Learn how to use this search limiter in our Searching for Sources page.

Scholarly research articles can be tricky and overwhelming to read due to their length and technical, scientific language. Luckily, you don’t need to read an entire article in order to identify the key information.

How are articles organized?

It's important to know the main sections that make up a research article so you can find the key information.

• Abstract: A high level summary of the article.
• Introduction: Sets the context for the research study. Develops an argument for why the study is important.
• Literature review (may be included in introduction): A summary of previous research on this topic. Places the research in context with prior work. Analyzes important contributions that are relevant and shows that the article builds upon to create new knowledge.
• Methods or Methodology: Describes how the research was performed. Provides detail on the research methods, which may include the participants and how they were recruited, the study context, data collection methods, and methods of data analysis.
• Results: Provides a summary of the findings from the study. May include charts, tables, graphs, and data visualizations.
• Discussion: Provides a discussion of the findings and what they mean in relation to the research question or hypothesis. This section is where the authors present their interpretations of the results.
• Conclusion: Provides a synthesis of the findings and importance of the research. May discuss the limitations of the study, potential sources of bias, or opportunities for further research.  

Order of Reading

Try reading the journal article in the following order, rather in the order in which it is written:

1. Abstract
2. Discussion
3. Introduction
4. Conclusion
5. Results (skim, if needed)
6. Methodology (skim, if needed)

Reading the abstract first will let you know if the article is relevant to your topic and if you should read further. Reading and Understanding Abstracts. If you decide to read further, you are looking to figure out:

• What does this study mean
• Why is it important?

Next, read through the introduction and ask yourself these questions:

• What is the research question or problem?
• Why is this research being done? What is the rationale?
• What is the main argument? What is unique about this study, what does it contribute to existing knowledge?

Finally, read the discussion and conclusion sections. The discussion is where the authors will provide meaning and context to the data and findings from the Results area.  The conclusion will often summarize the findings and why the reader should care. Consider these questions:

• What were the key findings?
• How were the results of this study different from previous studies?
• How does this article connect with related articles?
• What implications does the research have for best practices or future work?

Note Taking

As you read, take notes on the article by highlighting sentences of significance and how the information supports what you are writing in your paper. If you have created an outline for your paper, now is a good time to document where you can include the information from the article as supporting evidence in your writing. 

Portions of this instructional content were adapted from University of Washington Virtual Reach Program 2020 under a Creative Commons 4.0 International License.