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2018-19 Honors Biology - Scholarly Journal Articles: Search Tips & Databases

Search Strategies

Search Strategies for Science Experiments

Primary source research studies include an abstract, hypothesis, method, results, discussion, and references.  Include those words as part of the search strand to limit your results.

Trick #1: Use the Advanced Search interface.

 

Trick #2: Limit your search by type of article (terminology differs by database):

  • Scholarly Journal

  • Peer-Reviewed

  • Refereed publications

 

Trick #3: Limit your search by content type, if possible:

  • Research article

  • Academic Journals

  • Experiment 

 

Trick #4: Limit the date range (“cutting edge” will be recent – no more than 3 years old!)

 

Trick #5: Search with keywords; for example:

  • Study or studies

  • Method*

  • Experiment or experimental

  • Quantitative

  • Qualitative 

  • Naturalistic

  • Hypothesis

  • Results

  • Discussion

 

EXAMPLE:

  • In Gale, enter Science Research Center

  • Click on Advanced Search 

  • Limit to "Full Text" & “Peer-Reviewed Journals"; include "Images", if available

  • Limit the Years

  • Set Content Type to “Academic Journal” & "Experiment" 

  • Enter search terms 

  • Download the article before scanning the results

Reminders

  1. Select an article that sounds interesting. If it's about an interesting topic, you will enjoy this process more! 
  2. Make sure you can understand the article,even though you are looking at academic journals written for a scholarly community. 
  3. Use Google Drive to organize your work. Download your article and save it in your Google Drive. 
  4. Use the Citation Tool to create the MLA citation. 

Selecting your Article

How to Select an Article

  • Read the abstract and yourself:
    • What is the experiment?
    • If there isn't a clear experiment, do not use this article. 
  • Scan the article to make certain it contains all components of a scholarly article (review the "Step One" tab, if you would like a reminder). Note: Download the article before scanning it. 

Biology Requirements:

  • Peer reviewed journal within the past 3 years.
  • Must be biology related.
  • Must be an actual experiment.  You cannot do a review of other research.
  • May be no longer than 5-10 pages in length (the requirement is for the body of the article, not the references).
  • Make sure you understand the article - your understanding is the most important requirement! 

Science Databases

TIP: In Proquest Central, narrow your search to Science & Technology databases, or Health Sciences & Nursing.

Database Passwords

Each database has a different username and password for access at home. 

Search strategies for finding science experiments - Gale Science in Context:

Search strategies for finding science experiments - Proquest: