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Library Research in Microbiology
Prepared by Anne Turhollow for Biology 521L and Biology 596
Fall 2002
Library research is a multi-step process. It consists of:
- Step 1: Selecting a topic to
research
- Current journals and background resources can help you select a
topic and provide you with starting points into the research
literature.
- Step 2: Identifying information
about
the topic
- There are many computer databases available to help you find
articles that have been published about your topic. This section describes
the best ones to use for microbiology research.
- Step 3: Locating that information
within
this or other libraries
- No one library can own all the material you need, so a number of mechanisms
have been created to help you find out where the material is and how to get
it.
- Step 4: Evaluating the
information that
you find
- Information varies in quality and reliability. This section
lists some of the questions you need to ask in evaluating your
material.
- And lastly Step 5:
Presenting your results and giving credit where credit is due
- This section lists material to assist in creating oral presentations and
to help in the writing process as well the basic style manuals for the field
of biology.
Where you start your library search depends on what you already know
and what you've chosen to research:
- If you have a "classic" article or book and want to update it,
start
with the citation indexes.
- If you've been given a topic and a list of references to find, go
to the section on locating your
material.
- If you don't have a list of references, but you do have a good sense of
your topic, start with the section on searching
for information to select the best indexes for finding journal articles.
- If you have a topic, but don't know much about it, start with the
background resources to learn more
about
it.
- If you don't have a clue about what you going to research, than skim some
recent journal issues. Current issues of the journals in microbiology can
be found in the Current Periodicals area on the 1st floor of Love Library.
They are shelved starting with the call number QR. Additional titles can be
found in the Review
Literature section of Microbiology:
Basic Information Resources.
This page http://infodome.sdsu.edu/research/guides/class/biol521.shtml is maintained by C. Anne Turhollow.
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for your questions, comments, and suggestions.
File saved 08/03/07 10:15 PDT
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