ULM Library LibGuides: Biology: Research Tips

Refining and Developing Your Topic

Before you develop your research topic or question, you'll need to do some background research first.

Some good places to find background information:

Your textbook or class readings
Encyclopedias and reference books
Credible websites, such as popular science websites
- BBC Earth
  Stories about recent scientific discoveries. Includes great photos!
- New Scientist
  A slightly more scientific source but still very readable! Look here for topics and articles.
- New York Times - Science Section
  Clear, well-written reviews of recent scientific research.
- Science News
  Scientific research written in easy-to-understand language.
- Scientific American
  Easy-to-read articles on recent discoveries in science and technology.
- Smithsonian
  Well-written popular science on a variety of topics.

Library Databases for Background Research

CQ Researcher
Founded in 1923, CQ Researcher provides original, authoritative reports on newsworthy social and political issues. Covering topics in public policy, law, civil liberties, international affairs, economics, health, education, the environment, technology, and more, CQ Researcher is renowned for its objectivity, breadth, and depth of coverage.
Credo Reference

Credo Reference is a general reference solution for learners and librarians. Offering 551 hundred highly-regarded titles from over 70 publishers; Credo General Reference covers every major subject. Credo Reference is an online reference service made up of full-text books from the world's best publishers. It's a great source to consult when trying to determine a topic for your research paper.
Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia
The Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia database indexes over 25,000 records, covering an array of topics. Full text for each record may be easily accessed by double clicking on the topic from the display. The database contains various images, offers brief biographies as well as information in a variety of subject areas.
Gale eBooks
Full-text reference books on topics including business, history, law, literature, philosophy, psychology, religion, science, travel, and more. Fully searchable and browsable.

Finding Sources

The types of sources you need to find will depend on the type of research project you are working on. Always read your assignments carefully, and contact your professor if you have questions regarding the types of sources you should be using!

To get started, visit the Find Articles & Databases, Find Books, or Find Websites pages to view recommended resources or see below for tips on evaluating a source's credibility and searching more effectively.

Evaluating Sources

Using quality, credible resources in your research is important, and there are many methods of evaluating resources. Choose the method that works best for you. Check out the image to the left that describes different methods for evaluating sources.

Keywords

Keyword Extraction

While you may be used to going to Google and typing in "Who invented the telescope", this will not work in a database. This is because search engines like Google use natural language processing. They can understand your questions as you ask them. Databases do not work this way. Databases use keyword searching.

Keyword searching involves taking a research question and pulling out the keywords. For example, if your research question is:

How does a mammal's gestation period affect its traits?

You would look through the question and pick out the keywords. For this question, we can pull out mammals, gestation, and traits.

Then, you would use Boolean connectors to connect the terms in a way that the database can understand. Your end search would look something like this:

mammals AND gestation AND traits

Searching Tips

Use Boolean Connectors AND, OR, and NOT to refine your searches!

AND narrows a search (fruits AND vegetables)
OR broadens a search (fruits OR vegetables)
NOT excludes a term (vegetables NOT broccoli)

Use Truncation, Wildcards, and other Methods to Limit your Search!

Add an asterisk mark ( * ) to the end of a keyword to include its variations (e.g., librar* for library, libraries, librarian, librarians, librarianship etc.) in a search.
Use a question mark ( ? ) within words to search for single character variations (e.g., wom?n for woman or women).
Use quotation marks ( " " ) around words to create keyword phrases (e.g., "green marketing")
Check the database you are using for other ways to limit your search.