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Library Resources for SC200

Research Strategies

This assignment requires you to research a biotechnology and scientific discoveries that had to happen in order for that biotechnology to be developed.

The Library has lots of reliable resources, including reference books and journals, to help you. Studies continually demonstrate a correlation between improved grades and library usage, so be sure to use the suggested research strategies provided on this page. 

Starting Out

One place to start brainstorming would be to do a Google search and take a look at articles or lists that you find there to come up with a biotechnology to research into.  Some Google searches you could try are:  

  • biotechnology
  • biomedicine
  • biomedical discoveries
  • biotechnologal discoveries

Gale Virtual Reference Library (GVRL) is a great database to begin your research in the library. This database consists of reliable reference encyclopedias and handbooks, giving you an overview of the topic.

Suggested search strategy:

  • Search the collection generally. Keyword suggestions:
    • biotechnology​
    • cloning
    • bionics
    • Search the collection specifically. Type in the name of the type of energy you're researching (e.g. "bionic prosthetics")

Finding Journal Articles and other Publications

Find reputable journal articles in ProQuest Central. This collection of resources includes several health science collections such as ProQuest Biological Science.

A great way to narrow your results is to combine search terms. For example:

  • "bionic prosthetic" components​
  • biopharmaceutics
  • "stem cell" ethics

Quick tip: Using quotation marks is another way of narrowing your search results. The quotation marks tell the database to look for the words closer together (as a phrase):

  • "stem cell" ethics "united states"

Need more?

You can also try expanding your research by using the box on the Search page of this research guide. This box, powered by EBSCO Discovery Service, will expand the resources beyond just ProQuest Central and include everything EBSCO and our other databases has to offer.

Quick tip: To refine your search results even further, be sure to use the various limiters in all our database. These limiters include, but are not limited to, publication date range and source type.

Quick tip: For additional ideas of possible search terms to use, take a look at the Subject headings listed below article and eBook information on the results page.  Even if the article or eBook is not what you are looking for, the subject headings may be helpful. Highlighted below are a couple that look promising.  To turn them into keywords, simply put them into quotation marks and then add other words or terms to try different searches.

"artificial limbs"

"prosthetic design"