Presentation on research skills in biology for students in Biology Senior Seminar at Erskine College

1. BG 403
Biology Senior Seminar
This is the PowerPoint Presentation on
“Developing Research Skills in Biology”
Presented by Fred Guyette
on Sept 4, 2012

2. Let’s say this book is perfect for your project – How will
you get your hands on it?

6. Making Use of Subject Headings to
build a longer list of resources...

7. Making Use of Subject Headings
to build a longer list of sources...

8. WorldCat (FirstSearch)
World
“The Universe of Books
that can be borrowed from other libraries...”

9. WorldCat (FirstSearch)
“The Universe of Books
that can be borrowed from other libraries...”

11. Making an Interlibrary Loan Request...

12. Summary of what
we have looked at so far...
• Use our Library Catalog to find books we might own.
• Use PASCAL Delivers for books that might be held
elsewhere in SC.
• Use WorldCat and/or EBSCO for Interlibrary Loan.
• Click on Subject Headings to find similar items
Our example was “Predation (Biology)”

13. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mO6GQ0MtO4&feature=relmfu

14. BioOne: An Excellent Place to Start
World
for Projects in Biology...

20. • Avery M, Engeman R, Keacher K, Humphrey J, Bruce W,
Mathies T, Mauldin R (2010) Cold weather and the potential
range of invasive Burmese pythons. Biol Invasions
• Pyron RA, Burbrink FT, Guiher TJ (2008) Claims of potential
expansion throughout the US by invasive python species are
contradicted by ecological niche models. PLoS ONE 3:e2931
• Reed RN, Rodda GH (2009) Giant constrictors: biological and
management profiles and an establishment risk assessment for
nine large species of pythons, anacondas, and the boa
constrictor. US Geol Surv Open File Rep 1202:1–315
• Rodda GH, Jarnevich CS, Reed RN (2009) What parts of the US
mainland are climatically suitable for invasive alien pythons
spreading from Everglades National Park? Biol Invasions
11:241–252
• Snow RW, Krysko KL, Enge KM, Oberhofer L, Warren-Bradley
A, Wilkins L (2007a) Introduced populations of Boa constrictor
(Boidae) and Python molurus bivittatus (Pythonidae) in
southern Florida. In: Henderson RW, Powell R (eds) The
biology of boas and pythons. Eagle Mountain Publishing, Eagle
Mountain, pp 416–438

21. Who is Carla Dove?
And, why would a question
like that be important?

24. Dr. Dove investigates bird strikes and looks
for ways to keep birds away from airports...

26. Summary of Second Segment...
• We chose a project: Burmese Python as an Invasive
Species
• We tried a search in BioOne
• There was only one article on pythons in BioOne, but
we “raided” the references at the end of the article
• We chose one of the authors to find out more about
her research interests
• Why? Mainly to discover colleagues with interests
similar to our own / Graduate Studies / Internship / Job
Interview...

33. Bibliographies, Literature Reviews: This type of
article, if we can find one, offers an overview of
MANY articles, summarizing and discussing
the shape of the question...

35. Editors of Annual Reviews invite
leaders in their field to write an
overview of a certain topic,
following this rule of thumb:
“Please discuss the 100 most
important articles on this subject
published in the last ten years...”

43. To summarize this third segment...
• You might be especially interested in
journal articles that are “reviews of the
literature” or have “bibliography” in the title
field
• Also “Annual Reviews” can be very
important.
• Written by Invited Experts/Provides...
• Ten Years/100 Articles
• Keywords/Abstracts
• Tables/Charts

51. A few highlights to remember...
In Academic Search Complete we did a search on
Honey Bee Colony Collapse
We saw that articles in Annual Reviews can help:
“100 articles in the last ten years”
MEDLINE will probably be the best place to begin if
your project involves diagnosis and treatment
of human diseases or health-related conditions
Interlibrary Loan and PASCAL Delivers for items we
do not own here in our library.