It’s the time of year when most academic health sciences librarians are actively supporting students as they return to campus and begin a new fall term. In an effort to position librarians to best support student success, drive library engagement, and equip students with the skills they need throughout their educational journey, we’re recapping reviews of three resources that could play important roles in students’ academic experiences:  

1. Google Scholar: Jeff Coghill’s 2018 review of Google Scholar demonstrates the resource’s longstanding capacity for helping librarians guide students toward effective research practices. The review highlights its strengths, such as its ease of use, accessibility, and broad, comprehensive search capabilities. For librarians, this means being able to direct students to a resource that, while not always perfectly curated, provides a starting point for literature searches. Grappling with the resource’s limitations allows librarians to teach students how to evaluate sources critically and integrate this tool effectively into their research workflows. This foundational skill in navigating scholarly resources helps students develop a research strategy that can be adapted as they progress through their studies. 

2. Academic Writer: Jessica Sender’s 2024 review of Academic Writer highlights its value in supporting students’ writing and citation needs. The review outlines the resource’s goal of helping students with crafting academic papers, leveraging tools for citation management, adhering to writing standards, and structuring research. It also covers salient features, including instructional resources. By making full use of these features, librarians can better assist students in mastering academic writing and citation practices with the goal of producing higher-quality work and building student confidence in adhering to scholarly standards. This certainly proves critical for success in both undergraduate and graduate studies. 

3. Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ): Travis Ford Holder’s 2022 review of DOAJ underscores the resource’s worthiness in furthering librarians’ aims to support students with access to high-quality, peer-reviewed research. DOAJ provides a comprehensive index of Open Access journals, which is invaluable to students seeking freely available, credible sources. The review highlights the resource’s extensive coverage and commitment to providing high-quality, OA content. Librarians using DOAJ with their students can guide them to reliable sources and foster their ability to find and use OA materials effectively. This not only enhances their research skills but also promotes equity in access to scholarly information, a key factor in supporting diverse student (and health) populations. 

Here at Doody’s, we celebrate the work librarians do every day to support student learning and are grateful for librarians offering their thoughts on critical resources that aid the mission. What resources do you use to help foster student success and engagement in research, writing, and information literacy? Sound off in the comments below.