Using deep web search engines to find articles on a research topic
Overview of deep web search engines
Not all information is freely available on the Internet. There is a vast amount of information that is only available to those who pay for access. This information is in the region of the Internet known as the "deep web". The Library subscribes to parts of the deep web so you as Laurier students get free access. If a website ever asks you to pay for an article, contact the your librarian (Mark). The Library has ways of getting students free access to any academic resource.
You can use deep web search engines to find quality, peer-reviewed academic journal articles in the deep web.
Deep web search engines
Psychology students in Qualitative Methods in Psychology may find these search engines most helpful:
- To search for journal articles about psychology use the "PsycINFO" search engine (opens in new tab)
- You may also find articles about your topic by using a search engine that has more of a focus on the social dimension: "Sociological Abstracts" search engine (opens in new tab)
Tips for using deep web search engines
Search engines that search the deep academic web often come with very powerful tricks.
Using double quotes to find an entire phrase
To find matches for a series of words or a phrase, put your search terms in double quotes. For example:
- "climate change": When entered into the search box, the double quotes will search article records for the whole phrase "climate change"
- "water reduction education": When entered into the search box, the double quotes will search article records for the whole phrase "water reduction education"
Using the wildcard operator
communi*: searches for words starting with "communi". Will return "community" or "communities"
Using boolean operators
"climate change" OR "global warming": Will search for articles with either the phrase "climate change" or "global warming". This is great when you aren't sure which phrase or word might be used.
Using proximity operator
water NEAR/10 education: searches for articles where water and education are within 10 words of each other
garden NEAR/3 community: searches for articles where garden and community are within 3 words of each other
Finding a journal article with a citation
- Video tutorial about how to get a journal article when you have the citation (transcripts provided) (opens in new tab)
- On the library home page, look up the journal by the title (opens in new tab), then find the specific issue and article
- On the library home page, search for the title of the article in the Primo search box (opens in new tab)
Reference material
Need help understanding a concept quickly? Consult reference collection:
- Handbooks about qualitative methodologies
- The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Research in Psychology (open in new tab)
- The SAGE Handbook of Grounded Theory (opens in new tab)
- The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Research in Psychology (opens in new tab)
- Handbook of Data Analysis (opens in new window)
- The SAGE Handbook of Interview Research: The Complexity of the Craft (opens in new window)
- The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Methods in Health Research (opens in new window)
- Handbook of Interview Research (opens in new tab)
- The SAGE Handbook of Case-Based Methods (opens in new tab)
- Encyclopedias about qualitative methodologies
Educational videos about qualitative research
- Advantages and Disadvantages of Qualitative Methods (opens in new tab)
- Coding qualitative documents (opens in new tab)
- Exploring Qualitative Methods (opens in new tab)
- Includes segments on
- Questionnaire methods
- Interview methods
- Case study methods
- Includes segments on
Movies about ethical aspects of doing research
- The Stanford Prison Experiment, trailer (opens in new tab)
- The Stanford Prison Experiment, DVD from the Library (call number PN1997.2 .S73 2015, on the 4th floor)