Research Support Service
General Guide
1. Literature search
Start with research databases
Scopus and Web of Science are good databases to start with for any research topic and literature review. However, both these databases are subscription based proprietary database.
Alternative equivalent effective sources are –
Consensus (AI based search Engine)
2. Assessing Journals, Articles and Author Influence
How does one know that something is of good scholarly worth? Traditional measures, such as peer review, impact factors, and the reputation of the journal, continue to be hallmarks within the academic community.
Visit
SCImago Journal Rank (SJR indicator) (Based on Scopus database from Elsevier)
CiteScore (Based on Scopus database from Elsevier)
Eigenfactor(Based on Web of Knowledge database)
Many journals like PLOS One gives article level metrics. You may also visit
Predatory Open Access and Hijacked Journals
Jeffrey Beall, metadata librarian at University of Colorado Denver, has taken the initiative to compile and maintain a website that lists predatory OA publishers and journals :
“Hijacked journals mimic legitimate journals by adopting their titles, ISSNs, and other metadata . Usually, hijacked journals mirror legitimate journals without permission from the original journal” (Source: Retraction Watch). Please click here to see the List of Hijacked Journals
3. Research Ethics
Visit COPE guidelines .
Plagiarism is a kind of research misconduct where a researcher presents someone else’s works, thoughts or ideas as his own, without giving due acknowledgement to the sources. Please visit Academic Integrity Tutorials of NIU.
Integrate PubPeer in your browser to avoid citing retracted article.
4. Bibliography Management
Automatic Citation Tool
Bibliography management tools (also known as citation or reference management tools) help you organize your research sources and generate bibliographies in multiple citation formats.
The following open source tools are widely used for bibliography management:
Mendeleyis a PDF and citation manager that indexes and organizes your research library into a digital bibliography. The program includes a collaboration component that allows you to share citations with other researchers. Mendeley is both a desktop application and a web-based application.
Documentation and tutorials:
Zotero is a web-based, open-source citation management tool that is designed to store, manage, and cite bibliographic references, such as books and articles. In Zotero, each of these references constitutes an item. Items can be everything from books, articles, and documents to web pages, artwork, films, sound recordings, bills, cases, or statutes, among many others. Zotero is both a desktop application and a bowser extension with plug-ins to word processing programs.
Zotero is available with basic features for free, with a fee structure for additional storage. Two options are available:
Zotero for Firefox, a Firefox browser extension.
Zotero Standalone is a desktop application that integrates with Google Chrome, Apple Safari and Firefox but without the integrated features of Zotero for Firefox.
Documentation and tutorials:
Information guide on Zotero from Georgia State University
Information guide on Zotero from Boston College libraries
MyBib : A free bibliography and citation generator.
Choosing a citation management tool
All of the tools will help you organize your research references and all include a plug-in for word processing programs to format citations and create bibliographies. But some of the tools offer other features, such as support for collaboration, a web-based interface, and mobile applications.
The following comparison charts may help you choose a tool that is best for you:
Wikipedia's comprehensive comparison of reference management software
Boston College University Libraries’ comparison chart
5. Choosing a citation style
For most papers, you will need to format your bibliography according to the citation style specified by your instructor or publisher. The following citation styles are followed widely in global academic communitiesa used at Stanford include:
MLA (Modern Language Association)
APA (American Psychological Association)
Chicago (The Chicago Manual of Style)
For more information about citation styles –
Please see Cornel University Library site
And Purdue Online Writing Lab site
6. Tools for Research
Visit Effective Writing Practices Tutorials of Northern Illinois University
Visit Online Writing Lab of Purdue University
AI Tools for Detection, Research and Writing