Bio Symposium - Searching Scholarly Sources
- 1. Searching for Scholarly Sources Biology Symposium
- 2. Do Now! • Go to m.socrative.com • Join Room Number 795231 • Answer the question: What do you know about peer-reviewed sources? – – – – – Who writes them? Who reads them? How are articles accepted for publication? What common features are you likely to see? What else are peer-reviewed articles called? How can you tell if your source is a peer-reviewed article?
- 3. Agenda • Defining peer-reviewed sources (review!) • Searching for peer-reviewed sources – Recommended databases – Keyword searching – Interlibrary loan • Reading peer-reviewed sources
- 5. Defining Scholarly Articles • Written by experts for experts, evaluated by other experts who specialize in the same scholarly area (“peers”) for validity and quality
- 6. Identifying Scholarly Articles • Is the publication scholarly or peer-reviewed? • Is there an abstract (summary) at the beginning of the article? • Is the tone of the article thoughtful, restrained and serious? • Does the article have footnotes or citations of other sources? • Does the article have a bibliography or list of references at the end? • Are the author's credentials listed? • Is the topic of the article narrowly focused and explored in depth? • Is the article based on either original research or authorities in the field (as opposed to personal opinion)? • Is the article written for readers with some prior knowledge of the subject? Source: Lloyd Sealy Library, John Jay College of Criminal Justice
- 7. Types of Scientific Articles • What does it mean when a study is a – Literature review – Systematic review – Meta-analysis • Does the scientific method still apply? • What are the strengths or weaknesses of these articles for YOUR research?
- 8. Finding Scholarly Articles • Search online library databases that specialize in peer-reviewed sources – Use advanced search options to filter for peerreviewed and full-text results • Chaining from other articles, popular or scholarly • Interlibrary loan requests, after you have searched available databases
- 9. Keyword Searching • Conduct background research to identify specialized terminology for your topic – Subject headings may differ by database • Put key phrases in quotation marks • Try out combinations of keywords to get all the main ideas (and be creative!) • Use advanced search features (e.g., title search)
- 10. Sample Search: Diet or Exercise? • Started with popular sources: – http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/19/is-30-minutesof-daily-exercise-a-sweet-spot-for-weight-loss/ – http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/01/dieting-vsexercise-for-weight-loss/ • Chained from there to peer-reviewed sources: – http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1014296? query=TOC&#t=abstract – http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22681398 – http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22855277 • Then tried a few database searches and submitted an interlibrary loan request for one I really wanted
- 14. Reading Scholarly Articles • Read background information first – Scholarly articles are written for people with prior knowledge, so go get some! • Focus on key sections – Abstract, introduction and discussion, figures • Make sure you’re ready to commit • Read hard articles in hard copy • Ask for help when you need it
Editor's Notes
- #6: Note: Many poster sessions become articles or presentations. Also it’s not like you turn in your paper and you’re done. There’s a revision process. I was published in a peer-reviewed journal for English teachers and got feedback and had to revise, even after the paper was accepted.
- #8: Graham’s classes only.