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Research

BIOL 103: Sex, Gender & the Brain

Spring 2008

Kristina Mead

Debby Andreadis: andreadisd@denison.edu

General Information Reference Materials

Leatherback Sea Turtles

Hatchling Leatherback Sea Turtles. Image from http://swfsc.noaa.gov/textblock.aspx? Division=PRD&ParentMenuId=212&id=1334

Specialized encyclopedias and other reference books such as the ones listed below are a good place to find information when you are having trouble understanding the technical jargon in a scientific article.  This is also a good place to look for a bibliography with references to primary research articles and images. You can search for others that address your topic using CONSORT.
Some examples:


Scientific Literature

Cover of Science

Scientific research goes through a publication process called peer-review. During this process the publisher sends articles out to experts in the field who decide whether the article should be published and suggest revisions to the author. In many scientific journals, not all of the content is peer-reviewed. There may be editorials, news items and announcements of upcoming events which are prepared by the staff of the journal rather than researchers.


Books and Journal Articles

Search CONSORT and OhioLINK for books and other materials containing information about your topic.

The databases listed below will lead you to scientific journal and popular media articles.  Once you have found a citation for an article, the next step is to determine whether or not Denison subscribes to that journal and, if so, where you can find it in the library.  Many articles are available online as full-text.  If they are available in print or microfilm, they will be located on the 2nd floor of the library.

Internet Sites

Please note that when using internet sites for research purposes, it is very important to evaluate the information on that site. See the following section on evaluation for more information.

Critical Evaluation and Citing Sources

It is essential to evaluate all sources you use to determine their appropriateness for your research project.  The use of web resources requires a bit more scrutiny than print sources, since it is not peer-reviewed literature, and it is often more difficult in the web environment to determine authors, publishers, and biases of sites.  Whether you are using print or online sources, citing your material appropriately is essential.  This gives credit for ideas to the originator, and failure to cite sources used constitutes plagiarism.  There are many different citation styles and, generally, your professor will let you know which style to use.  If you find your professor has no preference for a style, choose one yourself and use it consistently throughout your paper.  The following sites will help you refresh your memory on the exercises we went over on evaluation and citation in the classroom.

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