Background information - basic information about a topic like overviews, definitions, facts, and statistics.
Boolean operators - words (AND, OR, NOT) used to combine or exclude keywords in a search.
Citation - a reference to a work (e.g., article, book, website) you used information from in order to provide credit or attribution. Usually includes an author's name, the name of the work, and other information needed so readers can find the work on their own.
Empirical research article - an article on an original research study using observable and/or measurable evidence (quantitative or qualitative data).
Keywords - words or phrases that represent aspects of your research topic.
Library catalog - a searchable version of the books, journals, and other items a library owns, not including articles accessible through databases.
Library database - a collection of information you can search for free as a CSU student or affiliate.
Limiter - an option in a search tool or database used to limit your results based on a specific parameter, like source type. For example, if you were to use a "books" limiter, you would limit your results to books while excluding all other source types (e.g., articles, images).
Peer review - a system used to determine the quality of research presented in a manuscript. The manuscript is reviewed by peers, or experts in the relevant field, for validity, originality, and significance to help the editors determine whether the manuscript should be published.
Research topic - the focus of your research, or what you want to learn more about.
Scholarly article - an article written and reviewed by experts in a field. Also called a "peer-reviewed" or "refereed" article.
