Preparing a thesis requires a systematic and responsible approach, as well as adherence to the principles and rules of academic integrity. One of the key aspects of writing a successful thesis is a high-quality source base. In our article, we will look at several effective resources that will help you find literature that matches the topic of your work.
Google Scholar search platform
Google Scholar or Google Academy is a free search engine that covers a large number of scientific materials of various types and optimises the search for the necessary literature for research. The main features of Google Scholar include the following:
- Free access. Searching for literature does not require a subscription or registration.
- Wide coverage of literature sources. The platform provides access to various scientific materials, such as dissertations, preprints, conference abstracts, scientific articles, etc.
- Researcher profiles. Authors can easily create profiles and add publications, as well as information about scientometrics indicators.
- Notifications about new publications. The platform allows you to keep track of new publications, saving you time checking for updates. You can do this by setting up notifications, specifying the relevant query in the settings.
- Advanced search. This feature allows you to search for publications by keywords, phrases in the article title, publication years, etc. This speeds up the search for the necessary publications and narrows down the subject matter or publication period.
Scopus scientometrics database
Scopus is one of the largest and most authoritative scientometrics databases developed by Elsevier. The database indexes peer-reviewed journals, books, and conference materials. This allows you to perform an advanced search for literature by keywords, author, affiliation, citations, years, etc. The database also contains author and institution profiles, automatically calculates the h-index, and tracks citations. Additionally, it provides journal analytics by indicators (CiteScore, SJR, SNIP, Q1-Q4 quartiles) and allows you to evaluate the impact of publications and trends in the subject area.
Scopus has basic and advanced search options that allow you to search by a number of criteria, including keywords, language, document type, publication years, subject area, etc. Results are filtered by citations, relevance, date, journal or institution, and analytics are also available.
Please note that full access to the platform is paid or available through an account at a university, research institution, library, etc. Without a subscription, only limited viewing of publication data (metadata, abstracts) is available.
Searching the Web of Science Core Collection
The Web of Science Core Collection is the main selective collection of one of the most authoritative databases, Web of Science (founded by Clarivate). It contains the most prestigious peer-reviewed journals, books, and conference materials that have undergone rigorous selection and verification.
The Web of Science Core Collection includes the following indexes:
- SCI-EXPANDED (Science Citation Index Expanded) – natural and technical sciences
- SSCI (Social Sciences Citation Index) – social sciences
- AHCI (Arts & Humanities Citation Index) – humanities
- ESCI (Emerging Sources Citation Index) – promising journals
- CPCI (Conference Proceedings Citation Index) – conference materials
- BKCI (Book Citation Index) – scientific books
The Core Collection allows you to perform a thematic search using a number of filters, such as keywords in the title and abstract, author data, affiliation, DOI, etc. Filters are available by index, WoS category, year, document type, language, and country. The results can be analysed using Citation Report (citation dynamics, h-index of the set) and Analyse Results (distribution by field, journal, institution).
The sources in this database are verified and authoritative, which is definitely suitable for preparing a high-quality thesis. However, as in the case of the Scopus database, the platform has paid access with the option of logging in from an account of a scientific institution or university.
CORE search engine
CORE is an international open access academic search engine containing over 219 million scientific documents.
The platform contains the following types of materials:
- full texts of articles and dissertations
- materials from university repositories
- preprints and working materials
- open access journal articles
A significant number of records in the CORE collection contain links to full texts posted on publishers' websites or available for download in PDF format.
In addition to basic keyword search, CORE provides advanced tools for searching by filters such as publication type, years, language, scientific journal, repository, or author. The platform has a user-friendly and intuitive interface, making it accessible to both experienced researchers and young scientists.
Advantages of using the CORE platform
- Free and open access. The platform does not contain information about subscriptions or paid access, so CORE is ideal for students, postgraduates, or researchers who are in the process of preparing their research.
- Access to a large volume of scientific materials. The ability to download numerous full texts directly from the search engine itself.
- Multidisciplinarity. CORE covers all fields of science and is suitable for research in any subject area.
Preparing a source base for a thesis requires a careful approach and analysis of a significant amount of information. Be sure to indicate the author of the work from which you took the information for your research, as this is one of the rules of academic integrity. Read our article to learn how to properly cite literature in your thesis.
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