InfoGuides: BIO111-Course InfoGuide: BIO 111 Course Info Guide

Conducting Research

General informative sources can be magazines, newspapers, news videos, and reference books.

Environmental Studies In Context This link opens in a new window
Focuses on the study of sustainability and the environment. Topics include global warming, food safety, access to health care, and the impact of economic development on international relations.
Global Issues In Context This link opens in a new window
Focuses on broad issues, such as war, genocide, terrorism, human rights, poverty, famine, globalization, world trade, nuclear proliferation, and global warming.

Offers 250 different country topic pages and more than 400 Issue pages
Environmental Studies and Policy OneFile This link opens in a new window
Environmental Studies and Policy Collection provides access to scholarly journals, magazines, and other reference sources covering environmental issues and policies. The database includes diverse perspectives from the scientific community, governmental policymakers, and corporate interests.
Credo Reference This link opens in a new window
Offers access to encyclopedias, dictionaries, and atlases covering a range of subjects from literature, to law, to science and more. All titles are full-text searchable. Credo also offers the ability to seamlessly search within other library resources such as the Central Piedmont Library Catalog and ProQuest making it a great place to begin your research.

Scholarly articles come from academic journals, or "peer-reviewed" journals.

ProQuest Central This link opens in a new window
General reference database for over 175 subjects from magazines, journals and newspapers, including peer-reviewed and scholarly works.

APA Citations
Cite sources in APA format for science.
Plagiarism Tutorial
Make sure to avoid plagiarizing. Science writers and reporters deserve credit.

Writing as a Scientist
In a formal document, the audience expects a methodical presentation of the subject that includes summaries of important points as well as appendices on tangential and secondary points.

Be concise
Write in the third person (No I, me, we, us, etc.)
- Incorrect: I added 50 mL of water to a 250-mL beaker.
- Correct: To a 250-mL beaker, 50 mL of water was added.
Do not write reports as a list of commands
- Incorrect: Heat the solution until it boils.
- Correct: The solution was heated to boiling.

Use correct verb tenses
- Write in the present tense unless you are describing procedures that you did in the past.
Use Section Headings
- Introduction, Methods, Conclusion, etc.
- Include all required sections.
Proof-read
- Check for APA format (double-spacing, margins, Times New Roman 12, etc.).
- Ask your lab partner to read your draft.