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UNIV 325: Science Fellowship Application Workshop: Home

This guide is designed to help students in Eppley's UNIV 325 course locate and organize sources related to their unique research proposals.

Welcome!

Welcome to the LibGuide for UNIV 325! If you encounter any obstacles in your search process and would like one-on-one support, please feel welcome to email me at aliciaikerd@depauw.edu to schedule a one-on-one research consultation. In-person and Zoom options are available.

Open Lab Time w/ Alicia in ROW 119 (Laptop Lab)

Friday, September 27th from 3PM to 4PM EST

Monday, September 30th from 11AM to 11:30AM EST & 1:30PM to 3:00PM EST

Lastly, please note I have tried to provide as many Open Access sources as I could. There are pros and cons to using Open Access sources. Make sure you are being mindful of the pitfalls in Open Access information. To learn more click here. If an item you need is behind a pay wall please do attempt to ILL it. Do NOT try to use your own money to pay for an article without attempting to see if Roy O. West can borrow it from another library for you. 

Find It Button in Databases

The Find It Button:  When you click on the DePauw "Find It" button within a database (to locate an article), you will be redirected to a web page that searches for print and online access to the journal you are seeking.  If there's no match for the article you are seeking, you can make an Interlibrary Loan (ILL request).

Advanced Search Techniques

  • Most authors, researchers, doctors, etc. will dedicate their lives to their craft. Utilize author searching (especially Author Profiles on Google Scholar) to find more works by the author of a source you like. You can also locate a researcher at ORCiD and see a history of works associated with their research specific ID. 
  • Utilize past references a work you like has in their own reference list
  • Utilize Google Scholar's "Cited by" feature on a source to look for more current sources on the same topic. Some databases also have a similar feature like SciFinder.
  • Consider multiple names for your topic
    • Example: Artificial Intelligence OR Machine Learning OR Knowledge Engineering
    • Example: Soil OR Sod OR Dirt OR Turf
    • You may need to use medical terminology appropriate to your topic. Google the medical term or use PubMed to identify the MeSH term for your scientific topic. Example: Parkinson's Disease can also be called idiopathic or primary parkinsonism, hypokinetic rigid syndrome, paralysis agitans, shaking palsy. 
  • Utilize controlled vocabulary specific to the database you are in. You can usually find these by googling the database and "index terms" or "controlled vocabulary". Example: PubMed utilized MeSH terms to help discoverability. ACM utilizes a computing classification system. SciFinder uses "concepts". Academic Search Complete uses "subjects". 
  • If working in a database, utilize your operators
    • AND, OR, NOT, *, ()
    • Operators are specific to each database
  • If you are looking for a starting point on a topic, consider dissertations and Annual Reviews. Annual Reviews will give summaries of a topic at an overview level. Dissertations are usually written by those attempting to receive their PhD in a topic. If they are writing a dissertation it operates as a book in terms of length and amount of information. However, they can be useful because usually a person writing a dissertation needs something new to say about the topic.
  • Just because an item is Open Access, does not mean it has integrity or is a legitimate source. Make sure you are investigating the author, their credentials/degrees, their methods, their affiliated organization, and the publisher. 
  • Consider grey literature
    • Grey literature is literature that exists outside of the typical peer review publishing process. These items may get reviewed by editors, board of directors, etc. but they do not get reviewed by a panel of experts in their field for integrity. Grey literature often times lives outside typical databases and includes things like technical reports, statistics, patents, research reports, etc.
    • Click here for grey literature searching overview
  • You get access to multiple newspapers free through your DePauw affiliation -- use them! Click the newspaper tab on this guide and it will take you to the step-by-step procedure to create your accounts.