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ECE 380: Product Analysis Report Resources

Tips and Resources for finding materials to complete an Engineering Product Analysis

Google Scholar

Why talk about Google Scholar?

Google Scholar results are changing rapidly with the rise in misinformation, disinformation, and the proliferation of  Generative AI. You need to know how Google Scholar works to navigate this!

 

Best uses of Google Scholar:

  • Finding the full text of specific articles
  • Exploring a broad topic
  • Looking at where an article has been cited

Advantages over Library Research Databases:

  • It's free
  • Doesn't require a login to search
  • Comprehensive coverage, especially of non-journal sources
  • Accessible by researchers who are not affiliated with institutions that subscribe to research databases

Disadvantages over Research Databases:

 

Larry the Cat

Fig. 1. Larry the Cat. [1]

 

The information here was adapted from [1] 

AI Generated Papers and Google Scholar

Quote: As AI publications proliferate, Google Scholar is particularly vulnerable to being swamped by fake research

Fig 1. Quote. [1]

 

According to PredatoryJournals.org, "Predatory" publishers and journals are taking advantage of the way Google Scholar works. Here's how:

  • Paper Mills: also called "article factories." Authors pay to have their names put on scientific papers that Paper Mills produce and sell. The articles are:
    • Produced on a large scale
    • Typically low quality
    • Frequently contain false data, plagiarism, and questionable information

Paper Mills try to bribe journal editors to quickly accept papers for publication, employ their own editors and reviewers, and get their own agents on legitimate editorial boards to ensure the publication of their manuscripts.

  • Review Mills: "Groups of individuals or organizations that carry out fake reviews using ready-made and pre-formatted templates with the sole objective of coercing authors into citing specific articles with the aim of increasing their own citations or those of other researchers (who will pay for it)."
  • Citation Mills: "Organizations that manipulate and sell citations of scientific papers in order to artificially increase the impact of certain researchers who are willing to pay for it." These citations are inserted into legitimate articles through Review Mills or into papers produced by Paper Mills.

 

Publishers are working hard to identify and shut down these Mills, but the task can be overwhelming. [8]

The information here was adapted from [7] 

Did You Use AI? Then Cite It!

Know your professor's policies on AI use!

If you're not sure, ask! Is it ok to use AI to write an assignment? Is using Grammarly [10] ok? Can you use AI to create an image or audio? If you use AI to create an image, do research, or edit your own writing, this is not your work! You need to note that AI was used.

An example from a recent newsletter article had 2 parts:

  1. An asterisks after the article title
  2. An asterisk at the end of the article noting that AI was used, what app was used and how

Example

Title: When your Gig is Tragic: Using AI to Reclaim Your Time*

End of the paper: * ChatGPT (OpenAI, 2024) was used to help develop this newsletter entry.

 

Remember, academic and research integrity is critical! You need to disclose your research method and properly cite when incorporating other’s work. Using AI is "incorporating other's work"! As an author you are responsible for your writing and the evidence supporting it, including attribution of sources such as generative AI. Use AI to facilitate your learning, not as a replacement for doing the work.

Verifying Facts in the Age of AI

If Google Scholar and Internet browsers are so vulnerable to misinformation and disinformation, How do you know the site you found is accurate, and reliable?

The article Verifying Facts in the Age of AI [9] recommends these 5 steps:

  1. Research the Author or Organization [Wikipedia is a good choice!]
  2. Use good search techniques. Need a refresher?
  3. Verify the source
  4. Use fact-checking websites
  5. Pause and Reflect

Source List

  1. K. Elliott, "Google Scholar is not broken (yet), but there are alternatives", LSE Impact Blog. [Online] October 22nd, 2024. Available: blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2024/10/22/google-scholar-is-not-broken-yet-but-there-are-alternatives/. [Accessed Jan 13, 2024]
  2. "Inclusion Guidelines for Webmasters", Google Scholar Help. [Online] Available: https://scholar.google.com/intl/en/scholar/inclusion.html#crawl. [Accessed Jan 14, 2025]
  3. R. Reese, "Engineering the world’s highest cited cat, Larry". Case studies in scientific reproducibility. [Online] July 18, 2024. Available: reeserichardson.blog/2024/07/18/engineering-the-worlds-highest-cited-cat-larry/#:~:text=Larry%20Richardson%20is%20officially%20history's,his%20h%2Dindex%20is%2011. [Accessed: Jan 12, 2025]
  4. J. Haider, M. Rodl, K.R. Soderstrom, and B. Ekstrom, "GPT-fabricated scientific papers on Google Scholar: Key features, spread, and implications for preempting evidence manipulation", Harvard Kennedy School Misinformation Review, vol. 5, no. 5, Sept, 2024. [Online Serial] Available: https://doi.org/10.37016/mr-2020-156. [Accessed Jan 11, 2025]
  5. A. Serenko and J. Dumay, "Citation classics published in Knowledge Management journals. Part II: studying research trends and discovering the Google Scholar Effect," Journal of Knowledge Management, vol. 19, no. 6, Oct 12, 2015. [Online Serial] Available: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JKM-02-2015-0086. [Accessed Jan 11, 2025]
  6. C. Rovira, L. Codina, and C. Lopezosa, Language Bias in the Google Scholar Ranking Algorithm, Future Internet, vol. 13, no. 2, 2021. [Online Serial] Available: https://doi.org/10.3390/fi13020031. [Accessed Jan 14, 2025]
  7. "What are Paper Mills, Review Mills, and Citation Mills?", PredatoryPublishing.org. [Online] February 16, 2024. Available: https://predatoryjournals.org/news/f/what-are-paper-mills-review-mills-and-citation-mills. [Accessed Jan 14, 2025]
  8. N. Subbaraman, "Flood of fake science forces multiple journal closures; Wiley to shutter 19 more journals, some tainted by fraud", Wall Street Journal, May 14, 2024. [Online Serial] Available: ProQuest Central, proquest.com/central/. [Accessed Jan 11, 2025]
  9. M. Cordova, T. Bicknell-Holmes, and E. Watson, "Verifying Facts in the Age of AI," The Conversation. [Online] Available: https://theconversation.com/verifying-facts-in-the-age-of-ai-librarians-offer-5-strategies-233628. [Accessed, Jan 14, 2025]
  10. K. Palmer, "Is Grammarly AI? Notre Dame Says Yes", Inside Higher Ed, Nov 26, 2024. [Online] Available: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/tech-innovation/artificial-intelligence/2024/11/26/grammarly-ai-notre-dame-says-yes. [Accessed Jan 16, 2024]

 

Cited in IEEE Style.