This page provides a summary of the Library resources you will find useful for your Ecology research paper. I will keep it up for you for the remainder of the semester. Check back from time to time for updated content. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions, or if you'd like me to include additional links you found helpful.
Celia Brinkerhoff, Biology Librarian (celia.brinkerhoff@kpu.ca)
Following the library workshop, please take 1 minute to provide me with some feedback. Thanks!
For this assignment, you are being asked to locate an article reporting on primary research. Not sure what primary research looks like in the sciences?
In brief, you are looking for an article that:
This short video from the University of Wisconsin-Madison Library offers a good overview.
More specifically for this assignment, you are being asked to find a primary research article that describes some type of "field study" or controlled experiment. Although plenty of primary research is done in lab settings, you will need to find research that was carried out in an outdoor ecosystem.
When selecting your primary article, you will need to:
Avoid articles that are "meta-analyses" or reviews of other experiments, discussion, opinions, or book reviews.
Reading primary research requires first recognizing the standard structure of a scientific article. Read first for the main ideas and conclusions, then go back and read for the details of the experiment.
Your reading may look something like this:
This video from Utah State University Libraries provides a short overview of how to read a scientific article.
Here are 3 different articles found by browsing recent issues from ecology journals.
Which one is an example of primary research, and therefore suitable for your assignment?
KPU Library subscribes to Ecology, Journal of Ecology and Journal of Animal Ecology through the Wiley Online Library database. There are a couple of ways to access articles from these important journals.
1. Browse the current issues: Do this if you don't have a topic in mind, but want to see a range of possible articles. Either use the links above to go directly to the journal, or use the Journal Titles search tool to find it in the library's journal collection.
(Remember that if you're trying to access from off-campus, you'll need to login with your KPU ID.)
2. Search for a particular topic: Do this if you have a topic you are already interested in. Use the "search in this title" box with your keyword search. Select appropriate dates in the date filter to be sure you are getting a recent article.
This video will introduce you to browsing for a recent article in the journal Ecology.
This video will show you how to search for a recent article, if you already have a topic in mind.
KPU Library subscribes to several science database, collections of thousands of peer-reviewed journals covering many areas of life sciences. If you would prefer to look for your initial article in a database, that is, not within a particular journal, try one of the databases linked below.
You will need to make sure you are picking a journal from the field of ecology, conservation, or biology, and that your article is no older than 2021.
Once you've found your initial article, you are also required to find 2 additional articles for your project. These must not be articles cited in your initial article, but should be related to the problem being investigated. This additional research will help extend your analysis by adding some background or context to the topic.
There are a couple of ways to do this:
1. Many databases will offer related or recommended articles based on the one you have chosen. In the Wiley-Blackwell database, there will also be some suggested keywords you might try. Other databases may have a link to Citing Articles (or Times Cited), which will connect you to other articles that cite yours.
2. Use one of the library databases mentioned above to try to find these other articles. Pay particular attention to keywords for building your search, focussing on the ecological concepts or experimental methods involved.
If you find an article abstract, but KPU does not have access to the full text, you can request it through Interlibrary loan. We will get the article for you, but allow several days for this. Do your research early so you're not disappointed!
Once you've thoroughly searched the library's collections, and you are looking for more hard-to-find literature, use Google Scholar.
If you are off campus, check the settings in Google Scholar. Look for Library Links, and add Kwantlen Polytechnic University Library to the search box.
Adjusting your settings this way will provide links to those search results the Library has access to.
This screenshot indicates where to find the Cited by and Related articles links in a set of Google Scholar search results. Note too, that with the settings configured to incorporate KPU library subscriptions, the links are added to the results list, making it easier to access those articles for free, via the library.
The library's discovery tool, called Summon, allows you to perform searches across all of the library's collection. Be sure to use the "scholarly and peer-reviewed articles" filter.
The screenshot below shows the "cited by" link, which indicates other articles that cite this one, and the "related articles" link.
Zotero is a free browser tool that keeps track of your articles and webpages, and creates citations in several formats. Sign up for a free account, and your personal library will be accessible from any computer with an internet connection.
For help learning how to use Zotero, please visit Zotero.org for downloading and support.
The Library's APA citation style guide will give you examples of how to make in-text citations and reference lists for your paper.
