KIN 300: Motor Development

Using RefWorks

Using RefWorks to help with citing sources and organizing your references.

Searching Fusion

Tips for searching Fusion to locate relevant sources for the Toy Store Assignment.

Tips and Strategies

Start by Identifying the general social issues suggested by the toys you have selected, and enter the concepts into the search box.

• Example: toys AND (gender* or identity) AND child*
  • Tip: The asterisk finds variations on the root word such as "genders" or "gendered," and  "child" or "children"
• Example: toys AND (masculin* OR feminin*)
  • Tip: use the "OR" operator to look for concepts that are synonyms or are otherwise related to each other.

Search a class or brand of toy: 

• Think about synonyms and related keywords for each concept of your query, to build a detailed search.
  • Example: (Disney  OR "Disney princess" OR "princess toys") AND (gender* OR identity OR "gender role" or "gender expression")
    • Tip: Use the "Source Type" dropdown below the search box if you want to limit to "Academic journals" or "Magazines" or other types of documents.

Try a "natural language" search

• Enter your query using normal, conversational language, and click the "Natural language" toggle beneath the search box.
  • Example: how do Disney princess toys affect children's ideas of gender or identity
    • Tip: The "Natural language" search uses AI to interpret your query and translate it into keywords behind the scenes.

Identifying Primary and Secondary research

Primary Research Articles

Primary research articles report on a single study performed by the authors.

• Look for evidence of primary research in the article abstract, or in the body of the article:
  • The authors conduct the study. The article will report the results of research conducted by the authors to answer a research question or test a hypothesis.
    • Look for words indicating that the authors themselves "measured" or "analyzed" or "Investigated" the topic at hand.
  • Methods section. The article will usually have a "methods" or "methodology" or "research design" section detailing how the research was conducted or performed.
  • Results section and data visualizations. The article should include a "results" section that reports the authors' original findings.
    • Look for statistics, graphs, tables, or other data visualizations here.

Secondary Research Articles

Secondary research articles analyze, summarize, or interpret existing research findings from other primary studies. "Review" articles are the most common type of secondary research in the health sciences.

Review articles often report on the following:

• Look for evidence that the authors are reviewing multiple studies or are analyzing the data previously collected by a primary research study.
• Review articles will usually list the databases searched to find primary articles to review
  • Authors should clearly describe where and how they searched for the research included in their reviews. Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses should provide detailed information on the databases searched and the search strategy the authors used.
• Selection criteria for the review
  • The researchers should describe how they decided which articles to include in their review.
• A critical appraisal or evaluation of the quality of the articles included (most frequently included in systematic reviews and meta-analyses).