ENVS 201: Laboratory in Environmental Sciences (HC) Fall 2021

• Information research is an iterative process, meaning a cycle rather than a straight line. Assuming you have a research question in mind, you may follow a process like this:
   
  • Brainstorm search words -->
  • Explore initial search results -->
  • Refine your research question, and add or remove search words based on your initial search -->
  • Conduct a more targeted search -->
  • Repeat! -->
    <--  <--  <--

Confession: I often start a research quest with a simple Google search. Keeping in mind that not all the information I find on the web is going to be reliable, Google is still a good way to get my feet wet with a topic and gather the relevant vocabulary I need. Then I can move on to a more targeted database search. 

Example

During "swarming", scout bees--a subset of a honey bee colony--look for a new home for the queen and about half the worker bees.

You're monitoring the behavior of scout bees establishing a new colony, and you want to learn more.

Step 1: Break up this research question into two or three main concepts.

• Concept #1: scout bees
• Concept #2: colony

Step 2: Brainstorm synonyms, acronyms, and variant spellings.

• Concept #1: scout bees OR honey bees
• Concept #2: colony OR home OR site

• Even if the search engine you are using doesn't require you to enter boolean operators, it is still using them behind the scenes. It will help you to know the logic behind your search
  .
• AND gives you results that include ALL of your concepts.
   
• OR gives you results that include ANY of your concepts.
  ​
• For example, you might search:​

(scout bee* OR honey bee*) AND (colony OR home OR site)