Choosing Your Molecule
Choosing the right molecule is perhaps the most important step in the research process for this project. It pays to spend some time up front thinking about which molecule you will be investigating; this will make the research process much easier. With that in mind, here are a few general tips to keep in mind when choosing your molecule.
Photo by Hiro Sheridan on flickr.com
Browsing vs. Searching
You can either browse by topic or search by keyword on each of the above sites. You may find it helpful to browse within a specific area (i.e. chemistry or health) if you don't already have an idea of a possible topic. If you have a general idea of the type of molecule you would like to investigate, you can perform a site search using the embedded search box on the websites themselves. Alternatively, you can use Google to search within a particular site by using the "site limiter" function. For example, if I wanted to search for articles on endocrine disrupters in Discover magazine, I could type the following into Google:
Possible Keywords to Search
Looking for some keywords to use in your search? Here are a few ideas to get you started. (You are in no way limited to using these terms...get creative and come up with your own topics!)
Accessing the Full Text of an Article
Most of the time, you will be taken to the full text of an article directly from one of the above websites. Some sites, like the New York Times, have a limit on the number of articles that you can read without having a subscription. If you receive a message that you have exceeded your number of free articles, try looking in the library's catalog to see if we have already paid for a subscription to a particular resource.
You can do this by searching for the source by name in the library catalog, using the Compass search tool on the library website:
Popular Sources to Use
How can you find a popular article to inspire your project? To locate an article, start by searching and browsing within the popular science resources listed below: