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BIOL 106 Principles of Animal Biology

This guide will help you with your assignment for BIOL 106.

Peer-Reviewed Article

If the popular news article links to the scientific study, that's great! However, that isn't always the case. Most likely, you'll need to do a bit of detective work. From the popular article, look for clues -- key terms, a scientific name, a scientist's name, a date range of the study. Individually, these clues might not lead to the scientific article, but together it will help narrow your results. If you get stuck, let me know or visit the research help desk in the library 

Here are three ways to help you track down a scientific article: 
ONE

  1. Start with Google Scholar.
  2. Do an advanced search (click on the three line icon in the upper left hand side to find advanced search).
  3. A new window will pop up
    • add your animal
    • the scientist(s) mentioned
    • the date limiters

For example, if your popular news article is from the BBC about red pandas, start with Google Scholar and do an advanced search. Add the search term (red panda), the scientist mentioned in the BBC popular news article (Hu), and add the date limiters (2020-2021) will return this scientific abstract and the full science article.

TWO

  1. Start with Search All Tab located on the library's homepage. 
  2. Type in the name of the animal.
  3. Limit by Peer Reviewed. Located directly under the search box on the homepage. 
  4. Limit by the year (2022-2023) and academic journals. 
  5. You may need to add some key words to your search. 

THREE

  1. Start with the Database Tab and find Academic Search Complete.
  2. Enter the name of the animal.
  3. Once your results are returned, use the limiters on the left-hand side.
    1. Limit by Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Journal 
    2. Limit by year. These are also located on the left hand side. 

If you find an article that CMU does not own, you can request it though InterLibrary Loan (ILL). Directions on how to do so appear on the next tab.