Skip to Main Content

WRT 101 & 102 - Desert Vista - How to Use MegaSearch - Dual Enrollment Classes: MEGASEARCH

Using MEGASEARCH

How to Use Megasearch for Peer Reviewed (Scholarly) Sources

(You may need to log in)

1. Open MEGASEARCH (Click Link Above)

  • First: Click Advanced Search
  • Next: Select your discipline:  (Optional)
  • For peer-reviewed articles, select "Scholarly Journals" in left hand margin

2. In the first box, enter a term such as  "inequality"

   (For best searching, enclose terms in quotation marks)

  • At right, click Select a field:    TI (Title) ,  SU (Subject)  AB  (Abstract)
  • Click Search. Note the large number of results.

3. In box below enter "employment"

     Click Search. Note the smaller number of results this time.

4.  Remember to Limit your results by selections below the search boxes

  • By "Peer Reviewed" and Date (Adjust Date on left margin)

5. Review the results.

  • Click the Title for the full record
  • Highlighting scans your search terms

6. Obtain citation--Click "Cite" icon on right margin and choose APA or MLA Format

7. Email an article to yourself/Save Your Search

How to use MEGASEARCH for Non-Academic Sources

(You may need to log in)

1. Open MEGASEARCH (Click Link Above)

  • First:  Click Advanced Search
  • Next:  Select your discipline:  (Optional)
  • For non-academic articles, select Magazines or News on left margin

2. In the first box, enter this: "inequality"

(For best searching, enclose terms in quotation marks)

  • At right, click Select a field:  TI (Title), SU (Subject) AB (abstract)
  • Click Search. Note the large number of results.

3. In second box, enter "employment"

  • Click Search. Note that each time you add a term in a field, the results get smaller.

4. Limit your results by Magazines or News and Date (Date adjusted on left margin)

5. Review the results and get your citation

  • Results of Search is illustrated in box below
  • Obtain your APA or MLA citation 

6. Email an article to yourself /Save Your Search

 

Checklist for your sources

1. Types of sources

  •  peer-reviewed journal articles
  • other sources (magazines, newspaper articles)
  • All sources must be relevant and reliable (credible).

2. Relevance

3. Reliability/Credibility

  • Authority:  Are the authors of the source are in a good position to know the truth?
    • Have they studied relevant data?
    • Do they have the expertise to interpret this data? What are their credentials?
    • Have they taken steps to avoid errors?
  • Bias: Are the authors incentivized to tell the truth and avoid distortion?
    • Do the authors have anything to gain by distorting the truth? Conflicts of interest?
    • Does the method of publication help protect us from bias? Is it peer reviewed?
    • If they distort the truth, how likely is it that they will be caught and suffer negative consequences?
  • Claim: Make sure the source is credible on the specific claims you focus on.