LibGuides: Research Survival Guide: Introduction

Searching vs. Researching

College Research
Searching vs. Researching

How often have you used Google to search for answers to your questions? Using Google helps you find facts and explore topics in easy and fast ways. However, when you’re conducting research you are not just searching for information and facts; you are analyzing different information and putting it together in a way that makes connections and correlations. Real scholarly research takes time, effort, and skill.

Watch this video from the McMaster Libraries to learn more about the differences between searching and researching.

	Searching	Researching
Authority	Can be many unqualified authors Materials not evaluated for accuracy	Qualified researchers in field Materials evaluated (peer-reviewed) for accuracy
Goals	Find facts and information to answer simple questions	Uncover information and add knowledge/connections to field
Length	Short timespan	Lengthy process
Process	Not necessarily an in-depth process Simple keywords used	Requires multiple steps that can be circled back to throughout process Requires search strategies and multiple steps
Types of Resources	Few free scholarly resources Popular websites Government websites	Scholarly journal articles Reference Books Books Newspaper articles