Bio 116 Research Guide

This guide will give suggestions, introduce skills, and highlight tools you might need to develop and share your ideas for your paper this semester.

It contains three parts (navigate with the links or scroll down the page):

1. Welcome: an introduction to the guide, links to the documents the librarian will review during the library tour and provides information on how to get help from the library when the tour is finished.
2. Do background research
3. Find sources effectively

At the very bottom, you'll also find some other useful guides, like how to cite your sources.

Get Library Help

One of the most important things to know about research is how to get help! Here are some of the ways you can reach a librarian.

1. Contact your course librarian, Eileen (elopez361@ccc.edu).
2. If you need quicker help, use the Library's chat service. Click on the button on the right of this page (a speech bubble with 3 dots in it), and a chat window will appear.
3. Schedule an online research appointment. Appointments are 25 minutes long and can be done via video chat or in person, and they're great when you need in-depth help.
4. Librarians are available in person during our open building hours. Stop by the Research Desk in L625 at any time!

At the Library

The Library can be an important part of background research, particularly if you want to know about what kind of scholarly conversations are already taking place. Here are some tools to get some context for your research.

On the Internet

Researching general internet sites is a great way to get started with research, check out what popular media says about a topic, and find out what people who may not be involved in the academic/scholarly conversation have to say about a topic. Here are a few tips to help you take your Google search to the next level:

• Use quotation marks (" ") to search for a phrase, which means those words together in that exact order.

• Use Google’s Advanced search to help you be more specific.

• Go beyond the first page of results. Don’t assume the “best” info is always at the top.

• Try Google’s other products. In particular, Google Books, Google News, and Google Scholar are great specialized search tools. Sometimes their results will come up when you just search Google.com, but if you want to dig deeper try each individually.

• Remember that where and who you are matters when searching! Google doesn’t show the same search results to everyone... it tailors results based on what it thinks you most want to see. Be aware of this fact and consider digging a little deeper so you’re at least pushing at those boundaries Google sets up for you.

Articles

Articles come from popular magazines, industry-specific publications, newspapers, and academic journals. Use library databases to find articles on specific aspects of your topic. For all the databases available to CCC students, go to Library Databases.

Articles are good sources to use for 

• very current events (newspapers)
• modern-day issues (magazines)
• in-depth research (academic journals)

Books and eBooks

Books convey in-depth information, increase your knowledge, and aid in the credibility of your writing. Sometimes students avoid books because they think they don't have time to read the whole thing. You probably don't need to read the whole book to use it!

• Review the table of contents, read the introduction, and go directly to the relevant chapters. 
• For eBooks, you can usually search within the texts using keywords to jump directly to sections that are relevant to your topic. 
• Use portions of books, and master the art of skimming, to pinpoint where exactly in the book you need to read deeply. 

Below you will find suggestions for finding both print and eBooks.

Searching the Library Catalog

The Library tool for finding books is called the "library catalog." Search the library catalog to identify books and e-books in the CCC Libraries. 

Steps for finding books using the library catalog - for print books in the campus libraries:

1. Keep your search simple. Enter basic terms for your topic. (example: energy drinks)
2. Evaluate your results list. Examine the titles of the books listed on the first page of your results. Try different search terms if you want different or additional results (for example, student loans vs. college costs). Please contact a librarian if you would like help with your search.
3. Click on the title of an item in the list to display more detailed information, sometimes including a summary and chapter titles.
4. If it is a print book, note at which campus it is located and copy the entire call number or use the "Send to Email" tool. You can use the "Request" tool to request that the book be held for you or delivered to a specific campus. 

eBook-Only Resources

Not all our eBooks appear in the Library catalog. If you want to go beyond the catalog, or if you're not finding what you need there, try these specific eBook resources.