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.

All the best for your studies,

Lyndall

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?

Watch: Topic analysis [1:52 mins]

Read: Common instruction words

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

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 e.g. Tiliqua rugosa is also known as the Shingleback lizard or skink or the "Sleepy Lizard"
novel	new, emerging
diseases	pathogen, virus, viral Consider colloquial and scientific names for specific diseases
Australian	Australia, New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, Northern Territory, Tasmania Note: Searches for Australia* will yield results about South Australia, Western Australia and the Australian Capital Territory, so there is no need to add these as 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 checking out the databases listed on the Environmental Studies & Outdoor Recreation database page. You can also check out Database Help if you need more assistance.

Websites

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.
Australia ICOMOS ICOMOS (International Council on Monuments and Sites) is primarily concerned with the philosophy, terminology, methodology and techniques of conservation.
Australian Faunal Directory The Directory is a catalogue of taxonomic and biological information on all animal species known to Australia.
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.
Global Biodiversity Information Facility A website providing free biodiversity data for various species as well as general information about the species.
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.
IUCN Red List A red list is a database of all threatened animal species.
NSW BioNet A Government portal for finding information about NSW flora and fauna.

Sources of information

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.

Read: Scholarly resources
Watch: Peer review [1.36 mins]
Read: Evaluating information
Watch: Evaluating information [3:17 mins]

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: