Library Guides: BIO216 Research Skills Guide: Develop your skills

Introduction

Hi. I'm Lyndall, your embedded librarian. This guide has been created to help you with your research for BIO216.

Each section introduces the steps you should take when researching for an assessment. You'll find links to videos and resources that will give you the tools to find great information. If you would like an introduction to our Library website and services, check out:

Watch: Online Library 101

Your textbook

An Introduction to Conservation Biology by Anna Sher
ISBN: 9780197564370
Publication Date: 2022-02-16

Watch: Ebook etiquette

Unpack your topic

A topic analysis will help you to clarify and understand what your assessment question is asking you to do.

Identify three key pieces of information in your assessment task by answering the following questions:

What is the topic or concept that you need to research?
Does your task place any limits? These might be "in the last X years", a geographical location or resource type etc.
Which instruction word is used to indicate how to proceed with the task?

EXAMPLE

Analyse how novel diseases are affecting Australian native species. Use peer-reviewed journal articles to corroborate your statements.

Instruction words	Analyse
Key concepts	native species
Qualifying words & phrases	novel diseases, Australian, peer-reviewed journal articles

For guidance in topic analysis check out:

Brainstorm search terms

Keywords are the terms you'll search with to find relevant information in Primo Search and the library databases.

Start with the key concept words, then make a list of:

synonyms
spelling variations and
related terms or short phrases.

To find alternative search terms:

use a dictionary from Oxford Reference online to define your keywords and clarify your topic.
consider alternative spellings i.e. programme vs program.
review your search results for additional terms
note how your topic is described within the resources you read.
after running a search in Primo, review the terms under 'Topics' in the filter pane for alternative keywords. These terms will change as your search does.

EXAMPLE

Analyse how novel diseases are affecting Australian native species. Use peer-reviewed journal articles to corroborate your statements.

Keywords from the task	Alternative terms
native species	consider colloquial and scientific names for the specific species or ecosystems
novel	new, emerging, consider colloquial and scientific names for specific diseases
diseases	pathogen, virus, viral
Australian	Australia, New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, Northern Territory, Tasmania * Searches for Australia will yield results about South Australia, Western Australia and the Australian Capital Territory. No need to add these as terms.

Test your knowledge: Brainstorm search terms

Create a search strategy

When you search using Primo Search or a library database, use the keywords and limits you identified to create your search. Combine the keywords with "search operators", rather than searching with a whole sentence or question. Search operators tell Primo or the database how to search with your keywords.

EXAMPLE

Use Boolean Operators, phrase searching and parenthesis to combine search concepts.
Bilby AND "emerging disease"
"novel disease" AND "native species" AND (Australia* OR "New South Wales" OR Queensland OR Victoria OR "Northern Territory" OR Tasmania)
("Myrtle Rust" OR "Austropuccinia psidii") AND "native species"

Remember: you will need to try a range of searches. Don't stop after just one.

Where to search

Primo Search

Primo Search is a good place to start as it allows you to use one search box to bring back results from most of our Library collection including books, eBooks, journal articles, newspaper articles and more.

You may get a large number of results and some of these will be from outside your subject/discipline area. Check the content is relevant to your assessment task before you use it

Library databases

Databases will help you find academic resources and are often subject-specific. You will get fewer results than Primo, but they will be more relevant to your subject/discipline. Journal databases are the best source of academic or scholarly information for your assessments.

I recommend the following database from the Environmental Studies & Outdoor Recreation database page.

GreenFILE This link opens in a new window
An EBSCOhost database which includes a range of source material covering all aspects of human impact on the environment.
The collection of scholarly, government, and general-interest titles includes content on conservation, global warming, green building, pollution, sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, and recycling.

Key journals that are available in full-text include Conservation Biology; International Journal of Green Energy; Journal of Ecology; Journal of Environmental Planning & Management, and Journal of Wildlife Management. Other key journals that are indexed only include Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment; Bioscience; and Forest Ecology & Management.

GreenFILE is provided free by EBSCOhost and so contains relatively less full-text material than other EBSCOhost databases. However, for articles where the full-text is not provided, you can use the Find it - CSU links to search for the full article if available in another database.

GreenFILE is one of many databases available in EBSCOhost. Once on the EBSCOhost search screen, you can change databases by clicking on the Choose Databases link above the search boxes. All EBSCOhost databases can be searched individually or in any combination.

Read: Database help

Some key journals include:

Websites

NSW BioNet A Government portal for finding information about NSW flora and fauna.
Centre for Australian National Biodiversity Research (CANBR) Botany and horticultural information; Rare & threatened plants; Aboriginal uses of native plants; book lists and access to a number of ANBG databases including - Australian plant names index; Herbarium specimen information.
Australian Faunal Directory The Directory is a catalogue of taxonomic and biological information on all animal species known to Australia.
Australia ICOMOS ICOMOS (International Council on Monuments and Sites) is primarily concerned with the philosophy, terminology, methodology and techniques of conservation.
Global Biodiversity Information Facility A website providing free biodiversity data for various species as well as general information about the species.
IUCN Red List A red list is a database of all threatened animal species.
Atlas of Living Australia Provides access to an array of information on Australia's plants, animals, fungi and microorganisms, including species pages, names list, ID keys, over 23 million records, photos, mapping tools and more.
Global Invasive Species Databases The Global Invasive Species Database is a free, online searchable source of information about alien and invasive species that negatively impact biodiversity. Search by species, location, habitat, and organism type.

Evaluate

Using credible information will improve the quality of your assessment and may result in better marks, but how can you tell whether the resources you've found are credible and suitable for your assessment? Have you been asked to use peer reviewed or refereed articles? Are you using authoritative websites?

The information below will help you evaluate the information you find, in books, journal articles, or online to make sure it’s reliable.

Reading, writing and referencing

The Academic Skills team can help you to build your writing, referencing and reading skills to be successful at Charles Sturt.

Explore resources from the Academic Skills team in the Learning Skills section of the Student Portal.

Here are some pages to get you started: