Biology Literature Research (BioLitRes) 101 -
Part 4r - Explore Reference Sources of Information.


Overview: In this section you will learn search strategies specific to perform searches on reference sources of information.

Reference materials of many types and formats exist. One of the most popular is one that you have grown up with: the phone book. You consult it constantly to obtain so many quick facts-- phone numbers, addresses, area codes, the names of government offices, and more.

Other kinds of reference materials include, but are not limited to, dictionaries, encyclopedias, almanacs, atlases, directories, and bibliographies. These may be paper, CD-ROMs, or even available on the World Wide Web. You're probably familiar enough with these types of materials to realize that reference sources are the things to consult to get answers to brief, factual kinds of questions and background information.

Why Use Reference Materials?

Reference materials are a great starting place for exploring a topic. Definitions, overviews, chronologies, facts, and biographies are some of the types of information found in reference works. Science encyclopedias and dictionaries describe the specialized language and history of the sciences in greater detail than general encyclopedias.

Entries in specialized science encyclopedias can provide you with more than just a quick definition of a topic. You may find in such sources a thorough history of a topic, with explanations of basic scientific concepts, and cross-references to other related topics.

GUIDELINES
STEP 1: Retrieve the list of refined concepts you compiled in previous steps

CONCEPT

Alternative
Descriptor

Type of  source(s) of information:
R=reference,
S=secondary,
P=primary,
W=web

Priority
1=highest

Location

Human genes and chromosome

same

Reference, secondary

1

Biology library

Central dogma

same

Reference, secondary

2

Biology library

Gene Mutation

same

Reference, secondary

3

Biology library

Hemoglobin and red blood cells

same

Reference, secondary

4

Biology library

Human genetic disease

same

Reference, secondary

5

Biology library

Sickle cell anemia aka sickle cell disease aka SCD

same

Reference, secondary

6

Biology library

Name of gene for SCD

TBD

Primary, web-based

7

NCBI PubMed

Gene database record

TBD

web-based

8

NCBI Entrez

Gene sequence

TBD

Primary, web-based

9

NCBI GenBank

STEP 2: Retrieve the list of refined queries you wrote in previous steps

Query

Operator1

Concept1

Operator2

Concept2

Operator3

Concept3

Q1

 

Hemoglob*

AND

(Human

OR

Homo sapiens)

Q2

 

hemoglobin

AND

Genetic disease

 

 

Q3

NOT

Protein sequence

AND

Gene sequence

AND

sickle cell anemia

Q4

 

Sickle cell anemia

OR

Sickle cell disease

 

 

Q5

 

Gene mutation

AND

Human genetic disease

 

 

Q6

 

Gene mutation

AND

Central Dogma

AND

Human genes and chromosome


STEP 3: Select the queries you are going to search on secondary sources.
From the two lists in previous steps select those that are going to be searched on secondary sources of information

Example1:

Query

Operator1

Concept1

Operator2

Concept2

Operator3

Concept3

Q1

 

Hemoglob*

AND

(Human

OR

Homo sapiens)

Q2

 

hemoglobin

AND

Genetic disease

 

 

Q4

 

Sickle cell anemia

OR

Sickle cell disease

 

 

Q5

 

Gene mutation

AND

Human genetic disease

 

 

Q6

 

Gene mutation

AND

Central Dogma

AND

Human genes and chromosome

 

 

 

 


STEP 4: Locate the search engine that will give you access to your secondary source of information.
Locate the source of information, for example, if you named the biology library as your secondary source of information; get information from them as to ways in which you can access their search engine to formulate your queries. 

Click here to see a video demo of steps 5 and 6. In order to watch the video, you should have flashplayer plugin installed. You can download the plugin from here
Click here to link to sources
 
STEP 5: Formulate your query
Once you have access to the search engine; formulate the query by typing the query expression you wrote in the table as shown above.

STEP 6: Examine the results
The set of results -or hits- is given to you once the search is finished.
Examine the set.

STEP 7: Done yet?
If satisfied with the results; then move on to the next query and the next until done with the list.
If the results are not quite what you expected, refine your search by using the tricks you learned in previous sections of this tutorial or by specific ones applicable to the search engine you are using. Then try the search again.

STEP 8: Collect results
Put together a list with the results you obtained.
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