Picking a Topic
There are several ways that you can select a topic for this paper:
- Think: what about biology (health, the environment, etc?) is interesting or exciting to you?
- Google News: check for current biology headlines and trace it back to the original research article
- New York Times Science Section: articles about new and interesting research are published each Tuesday. Make sure that your topic is related to biology.
Once you've chosen a topic, look to the following sources for background information:
- Gale eBooksUse this reference database to help yourself to understand words and concepts in the popular or scholarly articles that you don't understand.
- CatalogSearch for books on the topic to gather background info.
Want to use websites? Remember to evaluate them for good information.
Finding Credible Sources
Scientific research articles are often found in academic databases and journals. Here are some ways to look for information:
- Science DirectScience Direct provides indexing and full-text journal articles in the sciences and social sciences, including chemistry, medicine, computer science, earth science, economics, business, engineering, energy, environmental science, life science, materials science, mathematics, physics, and astronomy. This is a good source for scholarly research in those subjects.
- Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new windowASC will also offer the full-text of several scholarly and popular scientific articles. Make sure that any article you are considering using is scholarly.
As you pick your two articles to compare, remember that you want them to be tightly focused. It is much easier to compare two articles that study the impact of intermittent fasting on diabetes than it is to compare one study that looks at intermittent fasting and diabetes and the other intermittent fasting and long-term weight loss.
Evaluating Your Articles
Once you've done your background research and picked two articles to compare, you'll want to start thinking through how to evaluate them. Here are some steps to follow:
- Make sure that you've selected a research (rather than a review) article as one of the two primary sources to compare.
- Need some help understanding your article?
Once you've read and understood both articles, you'll want to start evaluating them section by section. Many of you will find that you'll spend most of your time in Materials and Methods, evaluating experimental design. Think through some of the things you've learned in your time at COD. For example:
- Do the experiments as described include a control group?
- Are they blind or double-blind studies? Why or why not?
- How long a period was the research conducted over?
You can also check out this guide to evaluating scientific research, or look at the book below for more examples of questions to ask:
How to Read and Critique a Scientific Research Article by Call Number: Online, On Reserve, and General: Q180.55.M4 Y46 2014
Cite
Need some help putting together citations? Check out the helpful links below:
Want software to create citations for you? Check out the database below:
- NoodleToolsNoodleTools allows you to find, organize and store your research citations all in one place. Create complete Works Cited and Bibliographies with the click of a mouse, and keep notes and ideas related to your work all in one place. Available in browser and mobile app.
Create an account with your COD email to access this resource.
