BIOL 456: Advanced Topics in Biology of Marine Life (HC) Fall 2019

• Information research is an iterative process, meaning a cycle rather than a straight line.
   
  • 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! -->
    <--  <--  <--

Example

What is the effect of marine microplastics pollution on the food chain?

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

• Concept #1: microplastics
• Concept #2: marine
• Concept #3: food chain

Step 2: Conduct an initial search with these words, and quickly scan the results. 

Step 3: Using information from your initial search, add synonyms, acronyms, and variant spellings.

• Concept #1: microplastics
• Concept #2: marine, ocean, aquatic
• Concept #3: food chain, food web

• 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.
  ​
• Essentially, you are searching:​

(microplastics) AND (marine OR ocean OR aquatic) AND (food chain OR food web)