BIO 201 (Ortiz): Finding Information

and/or

For real? Yes. The key is to evaluate the information you find and construct your search to make finding academic information easier!

Huge, free, online databases created and maintained by the National Library of Medicine and National Institutes of health.
Includes 26 million citations for primary and secondary biomedical research literature. 
Need help using PubMed?  Check out this really helpful quick start guide. 

Includes more than 190 high quality, subscribed and open-access titles focused in the biological, ecological, and environmental sciences.
Includes both primary and secondary research articles.

Includes over 1 billion citations for primary and secondary research in all scientific fields (not just biology). Also includes MEDLINE.

Some research can be adorable.

Just like real life, no one source/thing will solve all your problems. So think about what you need to learn and where you can go to get it:

• Background: using a source to provide general information to explain the topic. For example, you might visit your textbook, an encyclopedia, or a website for more information on what enzymes are and what they do. 
• Evidence: In biology, this usually means data! But you may also find other primary sources with agreeing/conflicting evidence.
• Analysis: You may look for sources that engage in larger analysis/impact/meaning to use within the literature review or discussion (but don't go overboard with these- this isn't a history paper!)
• Method: As you design/carry out your experiment, you should look for primary sources that carried out similar experiments. You can base your method on theirs, or compare two or more methods!