Researching and Writing in the Sciences: A Guide for Students

Prepared by Siobhán B. Cooke, Brooklyn College Writing Fellow, spring 2009

Writing a research paper in the sciences requires knowledge of the different types of sources available. This guide will help you to find and identify reliable sources.

Choosing Sources

The rules for finding "reliable" sources in the sciences are about the same as in other disciplines; however, sources that come from peer-reviewed journals or books tend to be more reliable than popular science articles. Frequently, popular science writing simplifies research and subtleties are lost. That being said, it is generally fine to peruse popular science writing as a way to get to know your topic and to find nontechnical information, but always be vigilant of reporting that seems overly simplified. It probably is!

Types of Academic Articles

When most scientists conduct research, they eventually disseminate their results and analysis through publication. Different types of research result in different types of papers. There are two main types of papers: research articles, which publish new information, and review articles, which summarize the results of the research that has been conducted on a particular topic.

Research Articles

Most scientific articles are descriptions of new information that has been discovered either through fieldwork, laboratory experiments or a combination of both. These types of articles almost always follow a specific format. First, an introduction summarizes the problem being researched and may briefly review what other scientists have thought about the problem. The next section describes the materials and methods that were used in the research. The third section explains the results of the research. Fourth, the scientist explains what he or she thinks that the results show and states their importance in the discussion section. Finally, some papers will end with a conclusion, which summarizes the findings of the research, although this section can also be combined with the discussion.

Review Articles

Review articles are critical summaries of research that has been conducted on a particular topic. A review article will summarize many different research articles on the same topic. To write this type of article, a scientist will read and study many different researchers' work on a particular problem. Occasionally, review articles will contain new data, but for the most part, they reanalyze data that has already been published.

Types of Academic Publications

Peer-reviewed Journals

reviewed journal receive a new article, it is sent to many different scientists in the same discipline — the author's peers. These scientists will read the article and comment on the research. If the author has conducted good research and has not made serious errors, the article will then be published. If the author's research is flawed, the article will not be published or will be returned to the author for clarification and revision.

Edited Volumes

In addition to journals, many researchers publish their work in edited volumes on a particular topic. Edited volumes generally follow the same peer-review process that peer-reviewed journals do; however, chapters are solicited from researchers by the editors.

Books

The majority of new scientific research is published in article form rather than in a complete book by one author. There are, however, many excellent books published on scientific topics each year. These tend to be aimed at a more general audience than articles published in peer-reviewed journals or volumes.

Finding Sources

Scientific sources can be procured from many different databases libraries and indices. Likely, it will be necessary to use all of these options to fully explore your topic.

Indices and Databases

Finding sources generally requires the use of scientific and general indices and databases, which contain lists of articles, books and other publication on a particular subject. Some are very specific, such as Animal Behavior Abstracts; others are much more general, such as JSTOR. Databases and indices can provide lists of articles that you then must retrieve yourself, either from the library or from online sources, or they can contain the full text of the source. You can access indices and databases through the college library website. In addition to library indices and databases, Google has introduced a search option called Google Scholar. This is available to anyone and is generally quite thorough.

Library Hard Copy Resources

Libraries maintain hard copies of books, journals and edited volumes in their stacks. These resources can be located by using the online card catalogue. In many libraries, books and journals are catalogued on the shelves by their call number, which is related to the subject of the text. Some libraries catalogue journals separately by title, however. Be aware of this variation across libraries when looking for sources.

Online Sources

Today, virtually all scientific journals and many books are published online in addition to hard copy. Many libraries that do not receive a journal or book in hard copy will have access to it online. Most library websites have an "online resources" section where the online journals and books can be found. These are generally stored as pdf documents, but some journals publish articles online in html. Another excellent resource is Google Books, which has virtual copies of many publications.