Tacoma Community College Library: ENGL 102: Lundberg, M. (Spring 2025): Finding articles

Finding more specific information that addresses your research question

Once you have done some background research and selected a research question about large language models (LLMs) and higher education upon which to focus in your Persuasive Essay #1, it is time to dig a little deeper. Articles from library databases will provide you with narrower, more specific information. In many instances, articles will be the source material that you use the most in your research assignments and papers. The two multidisciplinary databases below are great starting points for your research. I've also provided a list of keywords and some examples searches to help you get started with your searching.

Note that you need to find at least one scholarly article or study on AI in education. You will find scholarly articles/studies in both databases below, as well as popular sources from newspapers and magazines. Apply the "Peer-Reviewed" filter in either database to limit just to scholarly articles/studies.

Library databases for articles

Why use article databases?

The Library has some journals, magazines, and newspapers in print -- but we have thousands more stored electronically in research databases, also called "library databases" or "article databases." Here are some reasons to use article databases:

Looking for articles in library databases can help you find more specific information.
Almost all library databases -- including all the ones featured below -- have built-in citation tools to help make the citation process easier.
And to help save time, you can also narrow down your results to "peer-reviewed" articles, when you are looking for more authoritative information.

Try searching the following multidisciplinary article databases to find information about large language modules (LLMs) in higher education:

Academic Search Complete
(Ebsco) Periodical database. This multi-disciplinary database covers most disciplines taught at TCC. Most articles are scholarly.
ProQuest Periodical Databases
Multiple periodical databases providing coverage of a wide range of topics, with a mix of popular and scholarly sources. Particularly good for current events. Note that this is the largest database at TCC! If you do not find enough in Academic Search Complete, be sure to search this database, as you will likely find much more.

Search terms

Keywords to try in your searches:

Below is a list of words I brainstormed for searching for information about large language models (LLMs) and higher education. Remember, different terms will get you different results, and you may need to try several different searches to find relevant articles! Keep in mind that this list is not exhaustive and there are many other terms you might brainstorm. You might also want to consult the "Important Definitions" box on the Home page of this guide.

Large language models
LLMs
Artifical intelligence
AI
Generative AI
Higher education
Students
Authorship
Copyright
Intellectual property
Privacy
Equity
Access
Academic dishonesty
Academic integrity
Plagiarism
Creativity
Learning
Critical thinking
Writing skills
Ethics
Pedagogy
Literacy

Example searches:

The following are some example searches you might try to help you get started; feel free to copy and paste any of these directly into either database, keeping in mind that ProQuest is a much larger database and will often yield more results:

("Large language models" OR LLM) AND "academic integrity"
"generative AI" AND "academic integrity"
("Large language models" OR LLM) AND "higher education" AND privacy
"generative AI" AND "higher education" AND privacy
("Large language models" OR LLM) AND students AND equity
"generative AI" AND students AND equity