Scientists have been publishing since the 1600s. That means there's a LOT of resources at your disposal. How do you sift through it all? Practice these tips to narrow down the number of results you get when researching.
identify the best database to use (OneSearch is a great place to start)
use appropriate language (look at subject words in article records for ideas)
scientific jargon produces more scientific results
common language produces mixed results with some social science flavor
combine subject and keywords using the "advanced search" feature in databases
select "peer review" or "scholarly" to limit results
add location, population, specific species, time period keywords to further narrow your results
WHAT are you looking for? If you need DNA evidence, make sure one of your keywords is "DNA." If you want to know how technology is involved, "technology" should be a keyword.
Indexes articles from periodicals in the life sciences and agriculture, including topics such as animal husbandry, botany, cytology, ecology, entomology, environmental science, fishery sciences, food science, forestry, genetics, horticulture, microbiology, plant pathology, soil science, veterinary medicine, and zoology. Contains some full-text articles.
Authoritative medical information on medicine, nursing, dentistry, veterinary medicine, the health care system, pre-clinical sciences, and much more. Created by the National Library of Medicine, MEDLINE allows users to search abstracts from current biomedical journals.
This database provides full-text access to electronic journals published by the Oxford University Press. The collection of journals is multidisciplinary--covering the humanities, social sciences, and the sciences.
Covers around one quarter of the worlds full-text scientific, technical and medical (STM) literature published in 24 fields of science, including full-text articles from peer-reviewed journals, books, e-books, and reference works.
Gateway to government science information and research results. Searches content on authoritative science websites and on federal science agencies' databases.
