LIBRARY EXERCISE (10 points)

(DUE FEBRUARY 8, 2008 AT THE START OF CLASS!)

Objective: To introduce students to the scientific literature, database searches, and basic library skills.

By the end of the lecture period, the student should be able to:

§   Identify the major databases available at Briggs library for use in scientific and personal research

§   Use databases to search for articles within a biological topic of the student’s choosing

§   Be able to input keywords and phrases that will produce the most applicable results for the topic of interest

Searching for a scientific article

There are thousands of different scientific journals. MILLIONS of articles are published each year in such journals, which the general public never sees. Some journals are very specialized, such as Journal of Cell Biology or Animal Behavior, while others are more general, such as Science or Nature or Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Scientists are constantly searching for and reading the latest articles in their own fields. Graduate students and some upper-level undergraduates do, too.

Ms. White provided the names of multiple databases relevant to wildlife and fisheries research.  They can be accessed at http://lib.sdstate.edu/lib15/guidewildfish.html or through the library’s home page http://lib.sdstate.edu.

Choosing search terms

Many databases offer a "key word search," sometimes called a subject search.  You type in a word (or phrase) and the computer searches for that word in titles and summaries of the articles, or sometimes anywhere in the articles. You need to choose a pretty specific word to zero in on your topic. For example, if you are interested in the nutrient requirements of lactating cow elk, lactation and diet and elk might be good choices for search terms. The word cow would be a terrible choice, since it could pull up thousands of articles that are about behavior, diet, and general biology of not only elk, but also cattle!

Now you will get a little practice with these skills. Even if you never take another science course, you may wish to do a personal search at some future time, for example on a medical topic that affects you or a family member.

NAME:                                             

DATE:                                               

LIBRARY RESOURCES EXERCISE

(Turn in this page with your results)

(DUE FEBRUARY 8, 2008 AT THE START OF CLASS!)

1.      Select a wildlife or fishery topic from the list below and circle it (2 points):

a.       The effect of woody prairie restoration on grassland birds/ducks.

b.      Effects of body size on the predator-prey interaction between pumpkinseed sunfish and gastropods

c.      Forage quality of shrubs for white-tailed deer following fire disturbance

d.      The effect of oil refineries/exploration on behavior of sharp-tailed grouse/leks

e.      Habitat relationships and nest site characteristics of cavity-nesting birds in cottonwood floodplains

f.       Diversity of bird species in relation to spatial heterogeneity associated with burning/grazing

2.      Identify at least two key words you plan to use to search for articles relevant to your topic.  List them here (2 points):

a.        

b.       

3.      Print out a one-page list of possible references/citations from two separate databases.  Provide the name of the databases used in your search.  A typical citation includes journal (magazine) name, volume number, pages, date, title, and authors (2 points).

The actual number of references you find doesn't matter. Some searches turn up hundreds of citations in seconds, so the number of "hits" is not related to the effort put in. The point is to have experience with at least two different databases.

3.  On each database list, find one journal article you plan to locate and circle or highlight it.  You should now have two articles identified – one from each list.  The two articles MUST come from different journals!!! (2 points)

4.         Make a copy of the abstract from those 2 different journals.  The abstract should be the first page of the journal article itself, NOT the database abstract! (2 points).

5.         Turn in the following STAPLED AND IN THE FOLLOWING ORDER:

a.       This page with name, date, and keyword terms used to search

b.      The one-page print out for each of two different data bases.  Each list should have one article highlighted and those two articles should come from different journals.

c.      Copies of each abstract (2 abstracts total)