1. Research with Non-Legal Databases
Jennifer Allison, Research Services Librarian Harvard Law School Library April 10, 2015
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2. Research Topic:
How have psychological and sociological factors influenced our feelings about regulation of data protection and privacy for financial and medical data?

3. TODAY Brainstorm Google Scholar ScienceDirect PsycINFO
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4. Which academic subjects relate to this topic?
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Which academic subjects relate to this topic?

5. On Campus: https://scholar.google.com
Off Campus:
sign in; search for Google Scholar; use provided link.

6. Tips: Limit search results by date.
Remember, Google Scholar may try to add “related” keywords to the search, returning non- relevant results.

7. Tips:
Don’t stop at 3 pages. Google Scholar isn’t smart enough to know what exactly you think is relevant.
“Relevancy” is a moving target. Run searches more than once over the course of your research.

8. Link: http://www.sciencedirect.com.ezp-prod1.hul.harvard.edu/
Advanced Search: “data privacy” in Abstracts

9. Issues Coming Into Focus:
Is our topic too broad?
Are we finding helpful individual journals? Computer Law & Security Review?

10. Getting There: http://hollis. harvard
Getting There: > Databases Tab > Quick Jump Menu > PsycINFO
Advanced Search: “data privacy” in Abstracts

11. More Emerging Issues:
Where are the articles about data privacy for financial data? Business databases?
Dissertations? Use the ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database.

12. Research Tips
Keep a running list of keywords as your read and learn more about the topic, and use them for new searches.
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13. Research Tips
Limiting searches to abstracts and article titles means you’ll get fewer, more relevant results. You might also miss stuff.
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14. Research Tips
Are you seeing the same authors over and over? University professors have profile websites, often with bibliographies.
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15. Research Tips Always check for citing references!
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16. Research Tips
Pretty soon you’re going to figure out your topic is too broad. That’s okay! You can’t narrow without educating yourself.
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17. Research Tips
Explore fearlessly! You won’t break the computer or the internet by doing database searches.
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18. Research Tips Explore intelligently! Don’t click before your read.
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19. Research Tips
Use library research guides. Harvard’s are at
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20. Research Tips
Reference librarians are really good at offering judgment-free assistance. Visit
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