Biology

Sample Topics:

1. Aurora Borealis
2. Algae Blooms
3. Biological Weapons
4. Bioluminescence
5. Circadian Rhythm
6. Cloning
7. El Nino
8. Genetic Diseases
9. Honeybee Navigation
10. Lyme Disease
11. Mangrove Forest
12. Mass Extinction
13. Nanotechnology
14. Vaccinations
15. Wetland Restoration

Search Strategies:

• Use Boolean Operators to connect search terms or keywords: AND, OR, NOT
• Use quotation marks for exact phrases
• Use database limiters to refine searches: full-text, peer-reviewed journals, published date, publication type, etc.

Let's say you need to complete a research paper requiring two scholarly research articles on any biology-related topic. Where do you start? Let's explore a topic from the list on the left: Circadian Rhythm.

A good place to begin your research is to gather background information in Credo Reference (see link below). A topic search for circadian rhythm in Credo Reference reveals a summary article (note: not a scholarly research article). From this article we can learn more about circadian rhythm, narrow down the topic, and gather keywords for future article searches. For instance, the circadian rhythm summary article below discusses the hormone melatonin in humans. 

Now let's gather resources for the paper. An excellent source for biology-related scholarly research articles is the Biology Database in NCLIVE (see link below). From the background research, we can create a keyword search: "Circadian Rhythm" and Melatonin and Humans. Please note the search strategies for the Biology Database on the left. Also, be sure to limit your searches to full text and peer-reviewed. 

Once you click search, you have a list of search results. From here you can further limit your searches on the left-hand side of the search page. A good way to to list the most current articles is to limit your search results by publication date.

Now it's your turn to go through the search results to find the best articles for your research paper. Be sure to collect the citations for the articles in the tools section in NCLIVE.