BrainBurgersFAQ

BrainBurgers Research Engine FAQ

You will need to use Firefox, IE7, or SeaMonkey to use this Service. More.

What is a BrainBurger? It is a product of a carefully designed research engine. It was designed by someone with decades of research experience. The databases of articles published in the top journals in each area of science and the humanities are searched along with a large number of other sites that the casual researcher would miss. This site also lets you create your own plain BrainBurgers. Great for downloading multiple pdfs and other documents for simultaneous use.

How is this site different? It is dedicated to the serious student or anyone with a research question. The research engine does much of the time-consuming work for you. Much simpler navigation. Better results. It leaves you with more time to struggle with the research question itself.

Why the "Your brainburger is ready button?" This way your IP address (especially if you are in a Library) and or current logins will be used to access whatever databases and resources you are entitled to. Of course, you will also be seeing a lot of what you are missing. Just click on an empty tab's X and it's gone. You may also see some results in which the queries were not submitted; this is because of the way some sites are designed. Not all sites are equally accessible--nor are they available all the time.

Why all the tabs? Aren't popups bad? Don't confuse them with ads. Tabbed displays are highly flexible: you can quickly close them with a click or save them like a group bookmark. They let you search down to the bottom of your resource areas independently. Working with them is easier than explaining them. You can control real popups with Firefox settings. You can support BrainBurgers by visiting our advertisers. Thanks. Remember to set the number of tabs to open if you don't want to be overwhelmed.

What is Zotero? With BrainBurgers leading the way, Firefox with the Zotero plug-in helps you process what you find to create html reports and bibliographies. Add the Zotero MSWord plug-in and you will be adding footnotes or endnotes from Zotero right into your paper, report, presentation, or thesis. Now you are a BrainBurgers Power User.

How do I get the most out of BrainBurgers? In addition to using Zotero and other Firefox plugins, there is a simple principle: If you don't have a clear research question you aren't going to get the right results. Always have a question in mind. If you find the answer (not just supporting information or data) in a resource, it's the wrong question. You need to be struggling with the facts that you find in the course of your research. Original research means the answer to your research question did not exist until you figured it out.

How can I help improve the results? Your suggestions for resources you think should be included are welcome. Use the contact form.

Can I use other browsers? SeaMonkey works well, but you will miss Zotero. How to set up Internet Explorer 7 and later.

Isn't this just more information overload? No! The whole point of this research engine is to cast a net into the richest areas of the information ocean and show you where the most fish are to be found. You should immediately delete any tabs that come up empty.

What is a plain BrainBurger? Highlight a bunch of links in your bookmarks, copy and paste them into the window. Or, right-click on a hyperlink on any webpage using "Copy link" and paste it into the window. That's it.