1. BIOL 4398 Current Topics in Life Sciences
Lecture 1
Choosing a topic; Literature search; Writing Basics

2. Choosing a topic Something you find interesting – most important!
What field do you want to enter?
Read the literature. Browse journals in a particular area.
Take notes in your own words.
What issues about that topic do you find interesting?

3. Types of literature Peer-reviewed vs Primary vs Secondary
Primary, peer-reviewed review articles and textbooks are the only acceptable sources for your writing assignments.
Primary – present results of original research
Secondary – review articles, textbooks, newspaper, magazines
Recent review papers good start
Once you find a relevant paper, look through the references for additional, related papers.

4. Where to search Journal Databases Interlibrary Loan Library
Academic Search Complete
BioOne
JSTOR
PubMed
Science Citation Index (ISI)
Web of Knowledge
Google Scholar
Interlibrary Loan
AGRICOLA, Agriculture Journals, CAB
PubMed – medical, vet
Use various keyword combinations
keywords scientific name, common name, genus only, group name, field/area of research, life stages

5. How to search Keywords use of quotes + - Boolean operators
quotes – for phrase rather than separate words, for titles (part of titles)
Boolean Operators are simple words (AND, OR, NOT or AND NOT) used as
conjunctions to combine or exclude keywords in a search, resulting in more focused and
productive results. This should save time and effort by eliminating inappropriate hits that
must be scanned before discarding.
do not work in google
Using these operators can greatly reduce or expand the amount of records returned.
Boolean operators are useful in saving time by focusing searches for more 'on-target'
results that are more appropriate to your needs, eliminating unsuitable or inappropriate.
Each search engine or database collection uses Boolean operators in a slightly different
way or may require the operator be typed in capitals or have special punctuation. The
specific phrasing will be found in either the guide to the specific database found in
Research Resources or the search engine's help screens.
Proximity Operators (with, near and others) can also help you in searching. See Using
Proximity Operators for more details and examples.
AND—requires both terms to be in each item returned. If one term is contained in the
document and the other is not, the item is not included in the resulting list. (Narrows the
search)
Example: A search on stock market AND trading includes results contains:
stock market trading; trading on the stock market; and trading on the late
afternoon stock market
OR—either term (or both) will be in the returned document. (Broadens the search)
Example: A search on ecology OR pollution includes results contains:
documents containing the world ecology (but not pollution) and other documents
containing the word pollution (but not ecology) as well as documents with
ecology and pollution in either order or number of uses.
NOT or AND NOT ( dependent upon the coding of the database's search engine)—the
first term is searched, then any records containing the term after the operators are
subtracted from the results. (Be careful with use as the attempt to narrow the search
may be too exclusive and eliminate good records).
Example: A search on Mexico AND NOT city includes results contains: New
Mexico; the nation of Mexico; US-Mexico trade; but does not return Mexico City
or This city's trade relationships with Mexico.
Using Parentheses—Using the ( ) to enclose search strategies will customize your
results to more accurately reflect your topic. Search engines deal with search
statements within the parentheses first, then apply any statements that are not
enclosed.
Example: A search on (smoking or tobacco) and cancer returns articles
containing: smoking and cancer; tobacco and cancer smoking; cancer, and
tobacco; but does not return smoking or tobacco when cancer is not
mentioned.
Alliant Libraries
Wildcard Symbols
Wildcard symbols can expand the scope of your search.
Use For
* Truncation. This expands a search term to include all forms of a root word, e.g., patent* retrieves patent, patents, patentable, patented, etc.
* Multi-character wildcard for finding alternative spellings. Use to indicate an unlimited number of characters within a word, e.g., behavi*r retrieves behaviour or behavior.
? Single-character wildcard for finding alternative spellings. The ? represents a single character; two ?? represent two characters; three ??? represent three characters, and so on. Use within or at the end of a word, e.g., wom?n finds woman as well as women, and carbon fib?? finds carbon fiber or carbon fibre.
Note: Only words with characters equal to the number of ?'s present are retrieved, e.g., cell? retrieves cells and cello but not cell. Three characters are required before truncation, therefore h*ophilia will not function in our database.
Tip: When looking for singular and plural forms of short words that have a common root, such as cell, the truncation symbol may retrieve too many irrelevant words, while the wildcard symbol may retrieve too few words. In such a case, do not use wildcards and instead OR together the forms of the word you want, e.g., cell or cells.

6. Starting your literature search
Recent review papers good start
Once you find a relevant paper, look through the references for additional, related papers.
Literature – recent review papers good start

7. After the search Reading Note taking
Interpreting, summarizing, connecting
Note taking
Finding more relevant articles from references
Plan to re-read relevant articles many times
read abstract first, then decide whether to read the entire paper
continual –
takes time
narrow and focus over time
stop, read, at least skim, find more articles
read more – keep your own research in mind while reading
your search and topic becomes increasingly focused and more specific

8. Basic formal writing Do not use slang. Don’t use contractions.
Do not speak to the reader
“You can see in Figure 4…”
Avoid the use of quotes.
Hypothesis vs theory
Species names
Taxonomic groups
Data vs datum
Avoid grammatical errors, typos, misspellings, slang, contractions.
Paraphrase other’s ideas, results and conclusions in your own words.
A topic sentence sets the stage for what will follow.
supporting sentences whould be in a logical order, each relating to the idea set in the topic sentence
minimum of 2 supporting sentences.
Italicized, Genus capitalized, specific epithet is not, abbrev Genus when used a second time except at beginning of a sentence
common names are not capitalized unless a proper noun
Names of taxonomic groups are not italicized, but should be capitalized – class Trematoda, trematodes

9. Binomial nomenclature
New Zealand Robin
Scientific name = 2 words
Genus name + specific epithet
e.g. Sciurus carolensis or S. carolensis
Both are italicized or underlined; genus always capitalized, specific epithet always lower case.
Genera can be used alone, specific epithet cannot.
Specific epithet can be used for >1 species, genera cannot.
Eastern gray squirrel (S. carolinensis)
Carolina chickadee (Parus carolinensis).
Pre-Linnaeus: polynomial nomenclature
names up to 12 words long.
e.g. Solanum caule inermi herbaceo, foliis pinnatis incisis  The solanum with the smooth stem which is herbaceous and has incised pinnate leaves
First time using a specific Latin name  write genus and specific epithet
After first time  write first letter of genus and full specific epithet
Except: if first word of sentence always write full name
e.g. Salix alba was growing on the river bank because S. alba is flood tolerant.
Classification & Phylogeny

10. Plagiarism Rewrite another’s idea in your own words.
Paraphrase
Give them credit for their idea.
Read section on plagiarism (pp ).

11. As you write Backup your files Organize your journal articles
Allow lots of time
Revisions take time
Writer’s block – expect it
to another hard drive, flash drive, a copy to yourself to archive
keep in different locations – stolen laptops, fires, etc
important throughout your MS…data, journal article collection, thesis writing
Endnote, RefWorks, BibTex
Never turn in a first draft. Most first drafts are terrible. Good writing takes many rewrites
Make serious effort to edit, rewrite and fine-tune your paper