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ENSC 425: Ecotoxicology

What is a Systematic Review?

Check the Bracken Library's guide, Systematic Reviews & Other Syntheses, for more information about this type of publication.

Suggested Research Path

 

What are the concepts in your assignment?  What are the keywords that describe your concepts?

CONCEPT 1: CHEMICAL/CHEMICAL GROUP  +  CONCEPT 2: TYPE OF ECOSYSTEM 

 

Examples of CONCEPT 1 keywords:

  • formal chemical name(s)
  • synonyms for chemical (including trade name)
  • CAS number
  • molecular formula

Examples of CONCEPT 2 keywords: 

  • terrestrial (forest, tundra, etc), marine, freshwater
  • ecosystem, biosphere, community, etc.

Use Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT, "a phrase") to connect your keywords when searching databases.


Find chemical properties by using...

  • standard reference works such as the CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics 
  • the "Search Chemical" search in the Scifinder database.
  • TOXNET databases (for toxicity)

Explore background information.

  • Use the library catalogue, Omni to find single-topic books on the subject (print or online)
  • Search for review papers in databases such as Web of Science, BIOSIS, PubMed and Scifinder (each of these databases allows you to filter specifically for reviews)

Find specific scientific articles...

  • Use the library databases - note that each has specialized filtering tools.  For example,
    • records in Web of Science have "cited by" links that let you see who has cited the article since its publication.
    • PubMed allows you to filter articles depending if they are about humans or other animals.
    • Scifinder has an analyze feature that allows you to sort through your results
  • If Queen's library doesn't have the article you need, order a copy through the free interlibrary loan service, RACER.

Organize what you find using a citation management system, like Zotero.