science

Microsoft Academic Search

Microsoft Academic Search is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Microsoft Academic Search rather than just read about it. In short: Microsoft Academic Search (MAS) was a research project and academic search engine retired in 2012. It relaunched in 2016 as Microsoft Academic, which in turn was shut down in 2022.

Key takeaways

Microsoft Academic Search belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Microsoft Academic Search to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Microsoft Academic Search from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Microsoft Academic Search (MAS) was a research project and academic search engine retired in 2012. It relaunched in 2016 as Microsoft Academic, which in turn was shut down in 2022. The content of the latter was allegedly incorporated into The Lens.

History Microsoft launched a search tool called Windows Live Academic Search in 2006 to directly compete with Google Scholar. It was renamed Live Search Academic after its first year and then discontinued two years later. In 2009, Microsoft Research Asia Group launched a beta tool called Libra in 2009, which was for the purpose of algorithms research in object-level vertical search, data mining, entity linking, and data visualization. Libra was redirected to the MAS service by 2011 and contained 27.2 million records for books, conference papers, and journals. Although largely functional, the service was not intended to be a production website and ceased to be developed, as was originally intended when the research goals of the project had been met. The service stopped being updated in 2012. The fact that this decline was not reported on earlier indicated to the authors that the service was largely ignored by academics and bibliometricians alike. In July 2014, Microsoft Research announced that Microsoft Academic was evolving from a research project to a production service, and would be integrating with Microsoft's flagship search engine, Bing, and its intelligent personal assistant service, Cortana. “By growing Microsoft Academic Search from a research effort to production,” [Microsoft Research's Kuansan] Wang says, “our goal is to make Bing-powered Cortana the best personal research assistant for our users".

See also Microsoft Academic Google Scholar CiteSeerX List of academic databases and search engines

References

External links Microsoft Academic Search Archived 2014-08-03 at the Wayback Machine Project description on Microsoft Research website Microsoft Academic Search dataset on Azure Marketplace Microsoft Libra

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Microsoft Academic Search

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Microsoft Academic Search claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Microsoft Academic Search before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Microsoft Academic Search ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Microsoft Academic Search

In research: Microsoft Academic Search appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Microsoft Academic Search in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Microsoft Academic Search is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Bibliographic databases and indexes, Database stubs, Defunct websites, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Microsoft Academic Search outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Microsoft Academic Search in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Microsoft Academic Search means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Microsoft Academic Search out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Microsoft Academic Search in simple terms?

Microsoft Academic Search (MAS) was a research project and academic search engine retired in 2012. It relaunched in 2016 as Microsoft Academic, which in turn was shut down in 2022.

Why does Microsoft Academic Search matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Microsoft Academic Search?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Microsoft Academic Search.