How to Use the Literature

1
How to Use the Literature

• Background research is the key to a good project.

2
Why Background research is necessary

• Without instructions, you can't even start!No
  matter your question, someone, somewhere, has
  looked at something similar. This is not a bad
  thing! You can use previous research to know
  what to expect with your project. This helps
  you...- develop a more valid, in depth
  hypothesis - use an established procedure (helps
  A LOT)- explain how to look at the data- will
  help you draw stronger conclusions

3
To Wiki or Not to Wiki?

• While Wikipedia is NOT a valid source, it is a
  good place to start looking for sources of
  information. Lets say we want to know something
  about jumping spiders...If we head over to
  "Wiki" and start seeing what has been put up so
  far on jumping spiders we see a decently sized
  article.If you know very little about your
  topic, this is a good source of general
  information. If you already know this general
  information you can go straight to the bottom,
  where the references are.

4
Picking a Specific Topic

• After looking over the information, pick a more
  specific question. For instanceJumping spider
  vision seems interesting to me.I now have a
  narrow enough topic to develop a question. When
  looking for research it is often helpful to know
  what you are looking for--this will reduce the
  time, and frustration, involved in finding useful
  information.

5
What is the Range of a Jumping Spiders Vision?

• This is the question which will drive my
  research. As I look over the article there is
  some general information, but I have no idea how
  to test this. I can come up with some possible
  procedures, but will it be scientifically
  sound?There is only one way to find out...

6
CHEAT!Use the literature to help YOU

• Using literature sometimes feels like you are
  cheating, but science is not supposed to be
  difficult. There is probably an established
  procedure for whatever you would like to study.
  These often give you something like a recipe, and
  even if it isn't exactly what you are looking
  for, you have an outline.
• The whole point of literature is to be a pool of
  knowledge from which any scientist can draw, use
  ittheres no point in inventing a cookie recipe
  if you can get it off the chocolate chip bag!

7
Science Says What it Means

• Lets start by skimming over the titles of the
  references these titles may seem overwhelming,
  but just look for key words."Learning and
  discrimination of colored papers in jumping
  spiders" "Spectral sensitivity in jumping
  spiders ""Vision and prey-catching strategies in
  jumping spiders""'Eight-legged cats' and how
  they see - a review of recent research on jumping
  spiders"These look promising!

8
Dissecting the Literature

• While looking at the titles helps you figure out
  if that article will be helpful, you need more
  information than that to obtain the article.
  Lets pick this particular reference
  apart.Forster, L.M. (1982). Vision and
  prey-catching strategies in jumping spiders.
  American Scientist 70 165-175.

9

• References are basically set up with their own
  address system.
• Forster, L.M. This is the author. Often you can
  search by this author and find other helpful
  articles(1982). This is the date your article
  was published, it is an important number for
  finding your articleVision and prey-catching
  strategies in jumping spiders. Here is your
  titleAmerican Scientist This is the journal it
  is published in. You will need the volume/edition
  get the correct one70 This is the specific
  volume you need to look in 165-175. These are
  the range of pages it occupies in the journal.
  This makes it faster for you to find the article

10
Becoming a Scholar

• Once you have found some potential articles, go
  look them up! A good library should have some
  scientific journals. Often times at least some of
  the article can be found online. A very good
  source of purely scientific journals online is
  Google Scholar. This works just like Google, but
  taps online journal sources.

11
Organizing Your Information

• Now that you have found some articles, begin
  reading them. This is a slow process, but it is
  important that you understand what has been done
  to help you know where you should go. Have a
  notebook with you while you read and write notes
  to yourself. Make sure to include-Important
  methods (especially things NOT to do)-How/Why
  the information helps you-The variables they
  chose, and why-How their research differs or is
  the same as yours

12
And So, in Conclusion

• While finding, reading, and compiling literature
  can be a slow, sometimes frustrating process, it
  will greatly enhance the quality of your work. It
  also reduces unexpected difficulties later in
  your research and helps you analyze the data you
  collect.You can employ teachers, librarians, the
  internet, and even professors at a local
  university or college to help you find and
  analyze scientific research.