Writing intensive program: general ecology

WRITING INTENSIVE PROGRAM: GENERAL ECOLOGY

WPS 2 – Finding and Reading Primary Research Papers (10 points)

Instructor: Corey Palmer

GOALS:

Conduct a literature search to find primary research papers, read a primary research paper and summarize relevant information.

In this assignment, you will search the scientific literature using three different databases (EBSCOhost, Google Scholar, and Public Library of Science). You will use the same keyword or combination of keywords (choose an ecological keyword that is related to soil ecology and invasive plant species, as this will be the topic for our primary research project) to see how many matches (articles) you get from each database.

You will then choose one published peer-reviewed, primary research paper that is NOT a review, and answer some questions to evaluate it.

Later in the semester, you will be completing your own research project relating to natural area restoration, soil ecology, and the invasive Buckthorn species, Rhamnus cathartica. Because you will have to get multiple papers cited for your project in the literature cited section of your research project report, learning how to search scientific databases, and collecting some citations on this topic will give you an advantage later.

 ASSIGNMENT INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Use search terms to find primary research articles related to any ecological topic. Possibilities for search terms include “invasive plants and soil nutrients”, “population ecology”, “soil pH”, “eutrophication", “functional diversity”, “soil carbon respiration”, “soil invertebrate biodiversity”, etc. Choose your search terms, and report which terms you used in the format listed below (See Submission Requirements).

Search engines for ecological literature include the following.

o EBSCOhost: Go to https://neiulibraries.libguides.com/az.php and click on “A” then “Academic Search Ultimate” to launch the EBSCOhost search page. Click the “Full Text” and “Peer Reviewed” boxes to limit searches to only peer reviewed articles where you can access the full text.

o Google Scholar: Go to http://scholar.google.com/ and click on the menu button in the upper left-hand corner, and choose “Advanced Search”. In the box titled, “Return articles dated between”, enter 2014 in the left box and 2024 in the right box to narrow your results to articles written in the past 10 years (2013-2023).

o Public Library of Science (PLoS) journals: Go to https://journals.plos.org/plosone/search. Enter your search keyword(s) in the box at the top right-hand side of the page to search all PLoS journals. Once your results show up, use the boxes on the left-hand side of the page to limit your results. Under “Subject Area”, click “Biology and Life Sciences”, and under “Article Type”, click “Research Article” to limit your search to primary research.

2. Record the number of hits you find with your chosen keyword(s) using each of these three search engines.

3. Use any of these search methods to find the full text of the following paper: Grant, P. R., & Grant, B. R. (1995) The founding of a new population of Darwin's finches

4. Acquire a full-text copy of the article. There are several ways to do this. o In EBSCOhost, click the “PDF Full Text” button to access the full article and download the PDF. o Access to full text through Google Scholar varies. Look for [PDF] next to the article information in your search. o In PLoS, click the “Download PDF” button on the right side of the page. 5. Read and evaluate the article. Be sure to address each of the eight questions in section C on the following page. (And don't forget to address sections A and B in the product you turn in)!

 Submission Requirements: Submit to the D2L Assignments folder: a single PDF document titled "WPS 2 - Last name" that contains the following:

 A. Your chosen keyword(s) and a table showing the databases you search and the number of hits you found using each. You should search each database using the same key words.

B. The full citation for the article in CSE style. o o Components: Author(s). Year. Title. Journal Volume(Issue): Pages. See Hoffman for examples

C. An evaluation of the Grant & Grant research article. Answer the following questions. Please label the answers as 1 – 8, corresponding to the questions numbered here.

1. Describe the problem/issue addressed by the paper. In your description, give background information about the problem to explain its importance.

2. Restate the research objectives in your own words. What did the authors do to address the research objectives? Explain their study or experimental design.

3. What did they find in this study? Make sure you write it concisely, summarizing their most important findings.

4. Do the research methods described in this paper require significant skill, equipment or training? Justify your answer.

5. Examine each table and graph to understand the data they present. For one table and one graph, very briefly explain how the authors use the data presented in that table or graph to support their research conclusions.

6. List three citations used in the paper and tell me why you think the authors included them. For example, “Johns and Sabir (2002) was used to support the claim that biodiversity is declining in terms of butterfly species”. In other words, how are the citations used? For example, are they used to provide more information relevant to the paper or to support the results? Do they contradict the study’s findings? Etc.

7. How was this research funded? Could the funding source have interfered with the research conclusions? Describe why you think the research was or wasn’t worth the time and money involved (no right or wrong answer- I just want you to think about it and to justify your answer).

8. If you were conducting a follow-up study, what would you do differently? Can you think of any problems or flaws in the research that would have to be rectified? Did the research results raise additional questions that need to be addressed?