Embedded Files
Created by Stacy Kitsis, Arlington High School Librarian. Last updated: May 5, 2014.
Note: This page has been customized for Mr. Vautour's A block class! Other biology students should see the original Biology Symposium Pathfinder.
Search Tips
Combine keywords to get articles that match each of your important concepts. For example, if you are researching alternative treatments for blood cancer:
alternative treatments AND blood cancer
Use quotation marks to find complete phrases, especially proper names and titles. For example:
"muscular dystrophy" or "genetic causes"
Filter for what you need. If you don't have time for an inter-library loan request, filter for full-text results with images. If you're beyond the stage of background research, filter for peer-reviewed content.
Experiment with advanced search strategies. What would happen if you added the phrase "literature review" to the document title field? Or maybe "systematic review" or "meta-analysis"?
Check your spelling. If you don't find anything on your topic, sloppy spelling may be to blame!
Citing Sources & Academic Integrity
Why cite sources? In addition to avoiding the consequences of plagiarism and increasing your credibility, you are participating an ongoing scholarly conversation. It is important for your readers to be able to find your sources, so they can enter into the dialogue as well.
Your school subscription to EasyBib can help you format and track citations.
Research Questions
The collective wisdom of FIVE biology classes combined came up with the following characteristics of a good research question for bio symposium:
Has more than one possible answer
Focused, specific, concrete
Can be answered through evidence and data
Interesting to you (you'll spend a long time with it!)
Interesting and/or important to others
Challenging, but not so hard that you can't succeed/understand
Related to biology (but your teachers are great at showing how EVERYTHING comes back to biology!)
Takes form of a question (not just a topic area)
Makes you think!
Research Resources
Use the resources below to find great information about your topic!
Research Databases
Research Databases
Opposing Viewpoints in Context
Gale Power Search (search across all Gale databases at once)
Popular and Trade Periodicals
Popular and Trade Periodicals
Boston Globe (access through library database)
National Public Radio's Science Friday
New York Times Science News and Well Blog
New York Times (access through library database)
Science News for Students (Society for Science & the Public)
Scientific American and Scientific American Mind [complete access with password!]
*Thanks to your input, we have upgraded our trial to a subscription! You now have complete access to the archives. The magic word (i.e., password) for home access is the same as the other database passwords.
Print Sources
Print Sources
Don't forget, your textbook is another great source!
Additional resources on citation:
Arlington High School Guide to Student Research Projects
Created by Arlington High School teachers for Arlington High School students, this guide explains the research process and what will be expected of you.
Research and Documentation Online
Detailed explanation of in-text citations and works cited entries in perfect MLA format for a wide variety of sources.
Anatomy of a Database Citation
Most of your sources will come from article databases. Say it with me now: "Databases are not websites!" Here is a sample database article citation in MLA format:
Sanders, Rogier W. "HIV Takes Double Hit Before Entry." BMC Biology 10 (2013): 99. Academic OneFile. Web. 13 Feb. 2013.
And these are the parts:
Author last name, first name. "Title of article." Journal title volume and issue (date of publication): page numbers. Database name. Medium. Date of access.
This research site from Bedford/St. Martin's has other examples.
Tip: Most of our databases provide MLA formatted citations at the bottom of each article. They contain all the necessary information, though you may need to edit them for the citation style your teacher requires.
Questions, comments, concerns? Email me at skitsis@arlington.k12.ma.us.
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