Best Bets
- AGRICOLA (National Agricultural Library)Index of agricultural and plant science journals, USDA documents, and publications related to all aspects of agriculture and related disciplines, including veterinary science, entomology, plant sciences, forestry, farming systems, and environmental sciences.
Contents: Abstracts for journal articles, citations for books. - GreenFILE (EBSCO)Contains abstracts of journal articles on the environment including related topics such as agriculture, health, law, education, and technology.
Contents: Abstracts of journal articles. - ScienceDirectSubjects covered include biology, chemistry, computer science, economics, environmental science, mathematics, medicine, neuroscience, nursing, physics, education, and psychology.
Contents: Abstracts and full-text articles from scientific, technological, and medical scholarly journals and reference books published by Elsevier.
- PLoS ONE: Public Library of ScienceAn international, peer-reviewed, open-access online publication for all scientific disciplines. Associated scientific content available at this site include PLoS Biology, PLoS Medicine, PLoS Genetics, PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, PLoS Pathogens, and PLoS Computational Biology.
- Science.govResearch portal that allows searching across 38 scientific databases from the US government.
Finding a Topic
Sometimes finding a topic can be easy: you may have heard a story on the news, read an article in a newspaper or science blog. If you haven't already seen something that interests you, you can turn to popular science sites for inspiration. If you find a useful article, you can follow up on their sources. Here are some places you can start:
- BBC EarthStories about recent scientific discoveries. Includes great photos!
- New ScientistA slightly more scientific source but still very readable! Look here for topics and articles.
- New York Times - Science SectionClear, well-written reviews of recent scientific research.
- Science NewsScientific research written in easy-to-understand language.
- Scientific AmericanEasy-to-read articles on recent discoveries in science and technology.
- SmithsonianWell-written popular science on a variety of topics.
Research Logs
You may have to do a lot of searching for this assignment. A Research Log can be a great way to track it. It will help you keep track of where you searched, what terms you used, and how they worked. You can use the example below or make up your own.
- Research LogHere's an example of a research log. You can use it or create your own!
