Article Search

Article Search allows users to explore the Google Scholar and Microsoft Academic article databases quickly and efficiently. To do so, users enter their search term(s), author’s name, and date range for publication, and then tap search on their keyboard. Next, Article Search will report the amount of articles found in each database. Users then tap the database icon, and Article Search will load the search results. Users can then peruse the titles and tap on the ones that interest them. Once a title is tapped, users will be able to read the article abstract and/or view the entire article. When users find an article of interest, they can tap the “+” to favorite it or share it over email. If the article is marked as a favorite, it is saved in the “favorite” section so it can be easily accessed in the future.

Instructional Ideas

1. Teachers can show students how to use this app to find articles pertaining to specific subjects. Teachers will need to explain how to effectively use the search-term function. Some highlights teachers will want to cover include the use of quotation marks, the use of and/or, and the use of truncation.
2. Teachers can instruct students in the same class to search the app using the same, broad search term, such as “venomous snakes,” “Woodrow Wilson,” or “Mars exploration.” Next, teachers can have students review the articles reported and select the three that they think would provide the most quality information. From there, teachers could start a class conversation by asking: (1) Why do you think that article would offer the best information? (2) What makes that article offer a higher quality than another article? (3) How influential, based on the citations and publication date, do you think the article is? The purpose of this activity and conversation is for students to begin identifying the difference between high- and low-quality articles.
3. Instead of requiring students to compose a research paper about a topic, teachers could use this app as part of an annotated report. To do so, teachers could have students search for articles about a specific topic and then read the abstracts. Students then could summarize each abstract into a single sentence. (Teachers would need to set a number of abstracts to be reviewed, such as 5–10). Finally, students could compose a paragraph explaining what they learned about the topic based on the abstracts.
4. Teachers could have students use this app to find sources for a traditional research paper or oral report.
5. After becoming comfortable using this app, teachers could have students compose a piece of persuasive writing or make a persuasive presentation based on this app. The prompt for the writing or presentation is: If you had to use Google Scholar or Microsoft Academic, which would you choose and why?

Screenshots

Screenshots