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BIOD20: Special Topics in Virology

This guide is for students in BIOD20 to help them locate topics and articles for their journal club assignment, as well as guidance on analyzing articles.

Before You Begin Your Research

  • Do some background reading so you understand your topic
  • Don't quote from Wikipedia, but it is actually a good place to begin your research. Entries in Wikipedia frequently contain links to useful resources that are considered academic
  • Check out the list of resources for Biology and Medicine

Steps to Successful Searching

Step 1: Brainstorm keywords that represent aspects of your topic.

Step 2: Select appropriate databases for your research topic.

Step 3: Build your search using search terms and Boolean Logic. 

Step 4: Review your results. 

Step 5: Evaluate the quality of your sources.

Step 6: Get the full-text of relevant articles.