Hello everyone!
When it comes to online research, I must say that I definitely prefer library databases, as opposed to Google Scholar. Library databases can be selected based on the subject of your research. My project is about the disappearance of honeybees, so I usually pick "Environmental Studies" or "Natural Science." I find that it is helpful to narrow down the field of study before I begin researching. For example, this option was helpful when researching the causes for the disappearance of the honeybees, I selected "Environmental Studies," but when I was researching the different uses for honeybees in the field of medicine (apitherapy), I selected "Health" as my topic of study. Furthermore, I know that the York Library will allow me to have access to all of the articles that come up using the library databases, but when using Google Scholar, I didn't have access to full articles from certain databases and it was more frustrating trying to find out which ones I could read. Although, Google Scholar does have a built-in library to which you can save articles, which is very useful, but the same thing can be achieved with RefWorks, which is more specific and helpful anyway.
Despite these differences, they can be used in combination. It might be helpful to look up your topic first on Google Scholar to ensure that you are searching using the correct terms. If the search results turn up articles that aren't helpful to your topic, you can refine your search terms from there, ensuring specificity, before heading to the library databases. However, when choosing between the two resources for online research purposes, I almost always choose to head straight to the York library databases because most of the time I'm not quite sure what I want to look up first, and having to choose a specific database topic often helps to narrow my focus.
When it comes to online research, I must say that I definitely prefer library databases, as opposed to Google Scholar. Library databases can be selected based on the subject of your research. My project is about the disappearance of honeybees, so I usually pick "Environmental Studies" or "Natural Science." I find that it is helpful to narrow down the field of study before I begin researching. For example, this option was helpful when researching the causes for the disappearance of the honeybees, I selected "Environmental Studies," but when I was researching the different uses for honeybees in the field of medicine (apitherapy), I selected "Health" as my topic of study. Furthermore, I know that the York Library will allow me to have access to all of the articles that come up using the library databases, but when using Google Scholar, I didn't have access to full articles from certain databases and it was more frustrating trying to find out which ones I could read. Although, Google Scholar does have a built-in library to which you can save articles, which is very useful, but the same thing can be achieved with RefWorks, which is more specific and helpful anyway.
Despite these differences, they can be used in combination. It might be helpful to look up your topic first on Google Scholar to ensure that you are searching using the correct terms. If the search results turn up articles that aren't helpful to your topic, you can refine your search terms from there, ensuring specificity, before heading to the library databases. However, when choosing between the two resources for online research purposes, I almost always choose to head straight to the York library databases because most of the time I'm not quite sure what I want to look up first, and having to choose a specific database topic often helps to narrow my focus.
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