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Types of Sources
You will encounter different types of information sources during your academic career. Below are examples of a variety of source types.
- Examples
- Responses of arctic tundra to experimental and observed changes in climate
- Predicting species distribution and abundance responses to climate change: why it is essential to include biotic interactions across trophic levels
- Global assessment of experimental climate warming on tundra vegetation: heterogeneity over space and time
- Tackling Ecological Complexity in Climate Impact Research
- Wildlife Conservation in a Changing Climate
- Meltdown in the North
- Tundra
- Information about each source type
- Test your knowledge
Worksheet
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Document:
Primary, Secondary, Tertiary
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When you begin a research project you often start with an idea that can be framed as a question.
Things to consider:
- What population/entity are you interested in?
- Examples
- trout
- oil sands
- tundra
- Examples
- What phenomena is happening to/associated with this population?
- Examples
- mercury
- reclamation
- climate change
- Examples
- Are you interested in a particular setting or context?
- Examples
- oil sands
- Canada
- 1960s
- Examples
- Are you comparing between two things?
- Examples
- poldering vs hydaulic filling
- plant species A vs plant species B
- Examples
- Are you interested in a particular outcome?
- Examples
- carbon sequestration
- biodiversity
- reproduction
- Examples
These are the concepts you can use to build your search strategy. Not all of these concepts may apply to your research project, but you usually include the population and the phenomena.
Example Research Questions
- What is the impact of climate change on the tundra?
- How does mercury affect Oncorhynchus mykiss reproduction?
- Which woody debris type is more effective for vegetation recovery from reclaimed oil sites?
Conversely, you may have a question already in which case you can identify the concepts from your question.
Narrowing/Broadening your research question
- focus on a particular species / widen to a genus or family
- focus on a particular geographic area / expand to a continent / global
- focus on one outcome / look at all outcomes
Worksheets
- Narrow Broaden Research Question.docx (13.42 KB)
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Identify Concepts.docx (13.54 KB)
Search terms
Once you have identified the concepts in your research question, you need to consider the different ways they can be expressed. These are your search terms.
| Concept | Search term | Search term | Search term |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trout | trout | Oncorhynchus mykiss | |
| Mercury | mercury | mercuric sulfide | Hg |
| Reproduction | reproduction | fecundity | breeding |
Activity
Search Techniques
To conduct a search you need to combine your search terms together. There are a number of techniques you can use to help make this more efficient and effective
Boolean Operators
AND
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To find articles which contain all of your concepts:
- Combine them with AND
- Using AND narrows your search
- The more words you combine with AND, the less results you will retrieve
- Example:
- water AND sustainability
OR
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To find articles which contain any of your keywords:
- Combine them with OR
- Using OR expands your search
- The more words you combine with OR, the more results you will retrieve
- Example:
- water OR hydro
NOT
To eliminate non-relevant results:
- Combine with NOT
- Using NOT reduces the number of results you find. Use with caution as you may inadvertently remove results of interest
- Example:
- lake NOT river
Combining Boolean Operators
You can combine multiple operators in your search:
- Use brackets to separate concepts
- Example:
- (water OR hydro) AND (sustainability OR sustainable)
Phrase Searching
To find an exact phrase use quotation marks.
- Example:
- "sustainable energy"
Truncation
Truncation, also called stemming, is a technique that broadens your search to include various word endings.
- Both the singular and plural forms of a word
- Words that begin with the same word stem
- Truncation symbols vary by database; common symbols include: *, ?, #, $
- Example:
- sustainab* = sustainable, sustainability
Filters
- Controlled vocabulary/Subject heading
- Date
- Document type
Worksheets
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Document:
Search Tools
- Databases
Now it is your turn. Try researching a topic.
- Steps
- Identify the concepts
- Choose your search terms
- Combine them together
- Select a search tool
- Conduct your search
- Look at your results
- Did you find relevant results?
- How many results did you get?
- Do you need to adjust your research topic (narrow/broaden)
Article
Document:
Websites
Contrast and compare the following two websites:
Document:
ENSC1500 Websites work sheet.docx
(13.36 KB)
Why do we cite?
What is a reference?
A short description of an item (journal article, book, video, etc) that answers the following questions…
- What? Title
- Who? Author/Creator
- When? Date
- Where? Source
Indicates to your reader what you've taken from someone else’s work and where in that work you found it.
Parts of a reference
- Journal Article
- Title, Author, Date, Journal Name, Journal Volume, Journal Issue, Page
- Book
- Title, Author, Date, Page, Publisher, Place
- Website
- Title, Author, Date, Site, URL
Worksheet
Document:
