C105: "Genes and Controversy:" Critical Approaches

Here are some resources and tips that might help with your 5-page library research paper.


The Life Sciences Library website at http://www.libraries.iub.edu/lifesci lists useful resources and services as well as contact information for getting help with your library research.  E-mail us for help at liblife@indiana.edu or beckmanr@indiana.edu.

Web of Knowledge is useful for finding journal articles and includes a version of Medline that covers many topics related to human genetics.  The truncation (wild card) symbol is * in this database. Possible search terms, sometimes called keywords, include:
                                  gene cloning

                                  genetic screening

                                  testing

To help focus your search you might include one or more of the following:
                                 ethics
                                 bioethics
                                 ethical

PubMed is produced by the National Library of Medicine and includes a version of Medline.  Possible search terms include:
                                gene cloning
                                down's syndrome
Searches in PubMed can be limited to bioethics.

Encyclopedia of Life Sciences will not give you articles but can be useful for finding background information on your topic. Possible search terms include:
                                DNA fingerprinting
                                DNA profiling
                                eugenics

Medline Plus provides authoritative and up-to-date health information from the world's largest medical library, the National Library of Medicine.  A good place to look for bracground information on genetic diseases and conditions.

 

Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center is a good place to find background information on your topic and help you choose keyword synonyms to use in searchs of article databases such as Web of Knowledge and PubMed.

Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM) is a comprehensive, authoritative, and timely  compendum of human genetics and genetic phenotypes.  It includes full-text, referenced overviews of all known mendelian disorders.

FINDING BOOKS

E-books (and articles) from the publisher Springer can be found at http://www.libraries.iub.edu/scripts/countResources.php?resourceId=11516267.  Use a keyword such as bioethics and then limit to book titles (see under "Content Type").

 

Another large collection of e-books from various publishers is through a company called ebrary.

IUCAT contains records for more than 4.3 million titles held by the IU Libraries, statewide. 


SOME JOURNALS OR PUBLISHER SITES THAT YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT

 

New Scientist (readable, general science)

Scientific American (readable, general science)

Science News (readable, general science)
Bioethics
American Journal of Bioethics [one year lag time]
Nature Reviews Genetics 
Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics
ScienceDirect (e-books and journal articles from the publisher Elsevier) 
SpringerLink (e-books and journal articles from Springer)
Wiley (e-books and journal articles from Wiley)

 

For information on how to cite resources in APA style, see the guides from the Online Writing Lab (OWL) or the Help with Citing (APA, Chicago, MLA) from IU.

Also see our guide "How to Start Your Research in the Life Sciences Library".




RB 2/22/12