How to Access Research Paper for Free

There are many options to access research article or review article online. You can access the article directly from journal website itself or you can take the help of some websites to access the articles. But, you cannot access articles from all the sites in free. Some of them are accessible based on subscription. That means you cannot access research article in free of cost. Some examples of such type of sites are Scopus.com, SciFinder, Web of Science, etc. If your institutes have access to these sites or any particular journal then only you can access the articles via your institution, otherwise you cannot. Maximum colleges or institutes don’t have access to these sites or any journals. In such case researchers face lots of problems to access the research papers.

     Here I will tell about nine websites that you can use for accessing your research article in free. The nine websites are ScienceDirect, Google Scholar, Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), SCI-HUB, PubMed, ScienceOPEN, SEMANTIC SCHOLAR, ERIC, ResearchGate.

 From these websites you can search the articles by giving any keywords or by giving title of the article which you want to access. You can search article by authors name also. SCI-HUB is one site where you have to give URL or DOI of article to access it.

 Amoung these nine websites ResearchGate is little bit different. ResearchGate is a social networking site for scientists and researchers. Here you can access any article or you share your research article. You can also follow any particular researchers in this site. You can ask or answered any question in this scientific community.

 Below I have shown different sites one by one with example.

ScienceDirect

https://www.sciencedirect.com/

Google Scholar

 https://scholar.google.com/ 

Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)

 https://doaj.org/

SCI-HUB

 https://scihub.wikicn.top/ 

 

PubMed

 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/

ScienceOPEN

 https://www.scienceopen.com/

SEMANTIC SCHOLAR

 https://www.semanticscholar.org/

ERIC

 https://eric.ed.gov/

ResearchGate

  https://www.researchgate.net/ 

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How to Read a Research Paper

Once your research topic is chosen now you have to go for literature review on this topic. For doing literature review you have to read lots of research paper and review paper. Beginners especially undergraduate (UG) and postgraduate (PG) students face lots of problem in their first research article reading. They take lots of time to read an article. Sometime they got confused where to start and where to end. Here I will discuss about how to read a research paper in a proper way. This is for beginners only. It will help them to read the article quickly with fruitful output.

Before going to read any article you must check when (year of publication) the article was published and where (journal name and publisher) it was published. Year of publication will give you idea about whether it is latest or old one. Latest article will give you idea about current status of your research area. Name of journal will give you idea about standard of the article. So, these two things you should check before reading any article. Figure 1 is showing journal title, journal publisher, year of publication, DOI, etc. of a research paper.

Figure 1. A sample showing journal title, name of publisher, year of publication, title of article, DOI of the article, etc.

Majorly a research paper contains title, abstract, introduction, materials and methods, results and discussion, conclusions, and references. Now for reading any research paper you can follow the steps what I have mentioned in Figure 2.

Figure 2. Steps of reading a research paper.

Title

    First read title of the article. From the title you can understand whether it is related to your                 research area or not. If it is related to your research area then go for the next step, otherwise             leave the article and go for other article.

 

 Abstract

    After title you read abstract of the article. Abstract will give you overview of the research paper. Abstract contains major findings of the research and its applications.

 

Last Paragraph of Introduction

After reading abstract you go to the last paragraph of introduction because here authors write their objective of the research paper. This part will give you idea about what research works are presented in the article. Novelty of the research paper can also be understood from this section. I have presented a sample in Figure 3, representing the last paragraph of introduction of an article.

 

Figure 3. A sample showing the last paragraph of introduction in a research paper.

 

Conclusions

After the last paragraph of introduction you go to the conclusions directly. All research outputs are summarized in conclusions of a research paper. Conclusions also contain information about applications of the research outputs and about any unexplored area which can be done in future. A sample of conclusions is presented in Figure 4.

Figure 4. A sample showing conclusions in a research paper.

    After reading these four parts you will understand whether this article is useful for your research or not. If it is useful then go to the Materials and methods section of the article.

 

Materials and Methods

In materials section you will get information about the raw materials used for experiment. Under methods section you will get idea about any specific methods, software or characterization techniques used for the experiments.

 

Results and Discussion

After completion of materials and methods you go to the results and discussion part. Here you will get details idea about the results obtained and their analysis. As a reader you can do your own analysis based on their results and compare with the analysis given in the article. This is for your practice only. Go through each figure and tables as provided in the article and try to understand what they have done.

 

Remaining Part of Introduction

After completion of results and discussion you can go to the remaining part (last paragraph of introduction is already completed) of introduction. First part of introduction generally contains overview of the research area and problem associated to this area. Second part of introduction is generally on literature review. Maximum references are used in this section of the article. You will also get idea about the present scenario of your research area from this section.

 

References

If you want to see the references used by authors in the article you can go to the end reference list. From in text references if you find any reference will help in your research work that you can note and take details of the reference from the end reference list.

 

N.B.

During reading any article you can use highlighter whether the article in hard copy or soft copy. You highlight important text or results in the article, which will help in understanding of the article. The highlighted point will also help you in future if you go for rereading the same article.

 

The snapshots are taken from the following article

 

Boxi S. S., Paria S. Fluorometric sensing of ultralow As(III) concentrations using Ag doped hollow CdS/ZnS bi-layer nanoparticles. Dalton Trans. 2015, 44, 20464-20474.

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Waste Water Treatment using Graphene

Water pollution because of toxic organic contaminants such as dyes, pesticides, hydrocarbons, antibiotics, etc. becomes a serious problem in a global scale today. Various technologies are developed for the treatment of contaminated water such as chemical precipitation, ion-exchange, adsorption, membrane filtration, coagulation-flocculation, floatation, electrochemical methods, and advanced oxidation are used in recent years.

            Advanced oxidation processes in presence of nanomaterials gained wide attention for the remediation of contaminated water over the conventional methods because of its low cost, less time consuming and simple in process. In this process, development of efficient semiconductor based photocatalysts play a vital role. Among several nanomaterials, graphene based nanomaterials are important for the enhancement of photocatalytic activity of semiconductor nanostructures.

            Due to the unique properties of graphene it is used for remediation of contaminated water. The graphene based nanomaterials offer several advantages due to their large surface area and high electron content for the removal of organic species from waste water. Graphene oxide (GO) is used due to its high oxygen contents, which is responsible for the adsorption of metal ion in the GO sheets. The surfaces of the hydrophobic materials can be functionalized to target the specific contaminant via electrical and chemical interaction.

            A composite with GO and metal oxide have some useful features and used as effective adsorbent in the waste water treatment. GO functionalised magnetic nanomaterials are used for the rapid removal of tetracycline, oxytetracycline, dioxytetracline organic pollutants. Reduced graphene oxide (rGO)/iron oxide composite has been proved to be an excellent adsorber for the removal of 1-naphthylamine, 1-naphthol and naphthalene like compounds.

            From the various studies it is obvious that rGO-TiO₂, single layer GO, TiO₂-Graphene sponge have higher tetracycline and ciprofloxacin adsorption capacity than any other metal oxide based nanomaterials. GO-EDTA showed excellent Pd²⁺ adsorption capacity than any other adsorbant. Besides metal removal graphene based material is also used for the removal of organic pollutants by adsorption. In this way we can utilise the unique properties of graphene and graphene based nanomaterials to minimize environmental pollution and health hazards.

 References:

1.         S. S. Boxi, S. Paria. Visible light induced enhanced photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants in aqueous media using Ag doped hollow TiO₂ nanospheres. RSC Adv 2015; 5, 37657-37668.

2.         R. Levin, P. Epstein, T. Ford, W. Harrington, E. Olson, E. Reichard, US drinking water challenges in the 841 twenty-first century, Environmental Health Perspectives 2002, 110, 43-52.

3.         X. Qu, J. Brame, Q. Li, P.J.J. Alvarez, Nanotechnology for a Safe and Sustainable Water Supply: 846 Enabling Integrated Water Treatment and Reuse, Accounts of Chemical Research, 2012, 46, 834-843.

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Waste Water Treatment using Semiconductor Nanomaterials

Continuously increase of toxic organic component in surface and ground water become an emerging issue for the environment in the recent years. Different classes of numerous organic compounds have been passes through sewage treatment plants (STPs) of industry and municipality, which in turn contaminate in the aquatic environment. In general, organic compounds present in industrial wastewater are difficult to degrade due to its complicated structures. The toxic compounds present in water include aromatic compounds, antibiotics, dyes, etc. There is a dangerous effect of such component towards human beings, animals and other aquatic life when presence in excess quantity in water.

Metal oxide semiconductor nanomaterial plays an important role in degradation of the organic compounds in water. Photo catalytic degradation of toxic organic compounds in water is considered as an advance water treatment process over conventional processes such as membrane filtration, adsorption, etc. Semiconductor nanomaterials have a great role in the degradation of organic pollutants in water. Semiconductor materials such as TiO₂, CdS, ZnS, etc have prominent role in the photo degradation of organic compounds.

 Among several metal oxide semiconductor nanoparticles TiO₂ is proved to be a promising candidate for photo catalysis because of its higher efficiency, low toxicity, and long term stability, low cost, photo induced strong oxidation activity. Along with band gap of material surface area is also an important parameter to enhance the activity of anyphoto catalyst. Nanomaterials of different morphologies such as nanowires, nanotubes, nano rods, and nano sphere were proved to be more active compared to regular spherical nanomaterials. Especially hollow nanoparticles have attracted considerable attention because of its larger surface area along with some parameter, such as low density, good surface permeability and high light-harvesting efficiencies.

                                                                                                                               

Reference:

1.   Boxi .S.S; Paria.S. Effect of silver doping on TiO₂, CdS, and ZnSnanoparticles for the photocatalytic degradation of metronidazole under visible light.RSC Adv., 2014, 4, 37752.

2.  Ji.L, Wang.Z, Li.Z and Liang.J, Preparation of Aligned Titania Nanowires with an Aligned Carbon Nanotube Composite Template, Mater. Lett., 2008, 62, 1979–1982.

3.  Grandcolas.M, Ye.JandHanagata.N, Combination of Photocatalytic and Antibacterial Effects of Silver Oxide Loaded on Titania Nanotubes, Mater. Lett., 2011, 65, 236– 239

4.   Boxi .S.S; Paria.S.Visible light induced enhanced photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants in                 aqueous media using Ag doped hollow TiO2 nanospheres.RSC Adv., 2015, 5, 37657.

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How to Write a Research Proposal

Writing a research proposal

Writing a research proposal is essential for the students especially those who are going to apply for PhD or Postdoctoral fellowship. Even for getting a research funding also it is necessary to ready a research proposal with the applications. Here I will discuss about a general format of writing a research proposal step by step. That format can help you to write a research proposal when you are applying for PhD or Postdoctoral fellowship or to get any research grand. However, some funding agencies or institutes have their specific format of the research proposal which you have to follow during writing the proposal.

            Before going to write a research proposal first you have to select a research topic. Regarding research topic selection I have already discussed in the previous post “How to Select a Research Topic”. Once the research topic is selected then you can go for writing the research proposal.

Title of the Research Proposal

Here you write the title of the research topic that you have selected.

 

Introduction

Introduction of any research proposal itself carry the first impression on your proposal. So, the introduction should be specific related to the topic. First write a general overview on your research topic. Then you can write about how the progress happening in this research area. Write a small description of past and present scenario of the research area.

 

Origin of the Proposal

Here basically you have to write about the reason behind selection of this research topic. Write the problem that you have found in this research area based on the present status. Mentioned any unexplored part of the area which you are going to work on. From the origin of the proposal the reader will understand the novelty of your work.

 

Objective of the proposal

The objective of the proposal indicates the aim of the researchers. So, you have to be more specific during writing the objective. It will be better if you write the objective in bullet or numbering format.

 

Background literature

Write a literature review based on the research work published related to your research topic. In the literature review you have to focus on both national status and international status. You can mention about any specific research group that are working on this area. Review on current literature is very important here. Review of literature should be presented in such a way that reader can easily understand the present status of the research area.

 

Importance of the Research Proposal

Here you have to define the importance of your research proposal. You can mention the expected output of the research and its benefits. Mention if this output can solve any specific problem.

 

Work Plan

Work plan of the research work is necessary to fulfill the objective of the research proposal in better way. From the work plan reader can get clarity of your research proposal. Over all research work can be subdivided in small part and accordingly have to be mentioned.

 

Methodology

Here you have to mention the specific method you will use in your research work. Any experimental setup required for conducting the project that also has to be mentioned. Also mention about the raw materials required for the experiments, instruments required for characterization, any specific software required for the research work, etc.

 

Time Schedule of the Research Work

It is necessary to mention the time required for completing the work that you have proposed as per the work plan. A sample is given here below. You can present the time schedule of your research work in the following way.

Activity	Time period
	1st year		2nd year		3rd year
	1st 6 months	Last 6 months	1st 6 months	Last 6 months	1st 6 months	Last 6 months
The experimental setup
A critical literature review
Experiments on the synthesis of the metal

 

Budget (For Research Grant)

This is especially needed for getting the research grant. The applicant has to give estimated budget. The budget includes recurring cost and the cost of equipments. Recurring cost includes salaries/wages, consumable, travel, contingencies and overheads.

 

Bibliography

Here you have to list out the references you have used in writing the research proposal. The references may be research article, review article, book, or any other scientific publications.

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