LibGuides: FYSP 165: Feeding the World: Get Started

Search Strategy

Here is a good, basic formula for getting started with your research:

Begin by narrowing down your topic and developing an initial research question.
Use the keyword brainstorming worksheet to help you tweak your research question, identify keywords and related terms, and keep track of what you find.
Search in a library catalog (Summon, OBIS, OhioLINK and/or WorldCat) to find books and reference sources. These sources will:
- provide BACKGROUND and CONTEXT
- REVIEW and SUMMARIZE earlier work
- help you FOCUS your topic and
- provide CITATIONS to important books, journal articles, conference papers, interviews, etc.
Next, search research databases to find articles. The library has hundreds of databases; those listed on this guide are good places to begin.
You may also wish to use Google Scholar to search the Internet. This is a great tool for doing cited reference searches.

Summon

Search approximately 300 million books, scholarly articles, newspaper articles, data, digital audio, digital video, digital images, government documents and more. It draws from the library catalog (OBIS), many of the full text and article indexing databases, as well as digital repositories from colleges, universities, research centers, and other open-access archives on the web.

Literature review resources

Literature Review Tip Sheet
This page explains what it is/its purpose, strategies for approaching it, and questions to consider along the way.
Literature review worksheet (Fillable PDF)
This tool helps you examine each source that you are considering including in your annotated bibliography or literature review. Also gives you a chance to practice your critical evaluation skills by writing a brief appraisal of each source.

Annotated bibliography resources

Annotated bibliography tip sheet
This sheet helps you to understand what an annotated bibliography is, explains your job as a researcher as your compile it, and gives some helpful questions to consider along the way.
Annotated bibliography worksheet (Fillable PDF)
This worksheet is designed to help you ask and answer questions as you're reading each document that you're considering. It also gives you some practice distilling that information down into a brief summary.

Librarian / Research Help

Contact:Eboni A. Johnson (she/her/hers)
STEM Librarian / Head of the Science Library
ejohnson@oberlin.edu
440-775-5146

Subject expert for:
Astronomy, Biology, Chemistry & Biochemistry,
Environmental Studies,
Geosciences, Mathematics,
Medicine & Health,
Neuroscience, Physics,
Science & Technology