Build on what you've learned in at the beginners' stage by adding these intermediate-level skills to your Expert Researcher's arsenal:
These videos & tutorials can help you level-up to Intermediate Researcher status:
How do research articles get published? How does the library get access to journals and articles? This video explains not only the academic publishing process, but also explores how libraries get access to these articles for their students by paying for subscription services.
"Peer reviewed" is a term that is often used in conjunction with scholarly sources, sometimes synonymously. Get an overview of the peer review process in this video, including why peer reviewed articles are seen as high quality, authoritative sources of information.
Peer Review in Three Minutes, NCSU
This video gives a detailed account of the peer review process, including what roles editors and peer reviewers have in publishing scholarly articles.
What is "The Literature"? - CSUSBURL
What do people mean when they say "the Literature?". This video explores the concept behind the phrase, compares "the Literature" to other types of sources, and reviews why attribution is significant in building a discipline's body of "literature".
Phrase Searching, NCSUURL
This video teaches you how to eliminate irrelevant results from your database searches by using quotation marks to make a phrase out of your search terms.
How to Search Effectively, UAZ (interactive)URL
In this interactive tutorial, you will practice using the operators "and", "or", and parenthesis to get relevant search results, as well as how to use truncation to include multiple variations of your search terms.
Intermediate Database Searching, CSUSBURL
Implement phrase searching and truncation (using wild cardsto search all possible variations on a single term) in library databases to retrieve more relevant results.
Primary vs. Secondary Sources, UWFURL
It's important to incorporate Primary and Secondary Sources into your research to have a fully informed perspective on your topic. In this video, learn how to tell the difference between the two based on your focus and the type of research you are doing.
Exploring a Scholarly Article, UMNURL
Scholarly articles are often written in a unique style that can take some getting used to. This tutorial gives you an outline of how most scholarly articles are organized and formatted so you can make the most of your time when skimming these valuable resources for your research.
Selecting Relevant Articles, UWFURL
Even with good search terms, you can retrieve thousands (sometimes tens or hundreds of thousands!) of results from a database search. Using a graduated approach, as explained in this short video, allows you to sort through article results efficiently.
Accidental Plagiarism, UAZ (interactive)URL
What gets cited, and what doesn't need citing in a paper? This interactive tutorial teaches you what needs to be cited in your paper and how to paraphrase without plagiarizing,
Anatomy of a Citation and Reference - UofAURL
This quick tutorial introduces viewers to the basic parts of a citation.
Understanding Citations, U of Texas (tutorial)URL
This interactive tutorial explains how citations are useful to researchers; introduces different styles of citation; and contains a detailed quiz to test your knowledge of the different elements that make up a citation.
Citation Fox (APA), Univ. of Albany (interactive tool)
This tool contains several examples of different kinds of resources in APA to help get you acquainted with the style.