Binghamton University Libraries Ask a Librarian

Biology 105
Evolution for Everyone

This website has been designed to help you find information for your Biology 105 assignment on human evolution.

1. Choosing a topic
Choosing a topic for a course assignment can often be a challenging task. If you are unsure of where to begin, you might want to try browsing the following sources for ideas.

2. Formulate a Research Question.
Once you know what your topic is, formulate a research question. This will help you stay focused as you begin your research.
E.g. How did gossip evolve to become an important part of human conversation?

Hint: As you formulate your research question, try and keep your topic focused and manageable. Remember you are not being asked to write a dissertation. Your professor will be more impressed if you comprehensively address a smaller topic over attempting to cover everything about a broader topic.

3. Write out the important concepts (keywords) in your research question.
E.g. Gossip, evolution

4. Write down any synonyms for your keywords.
Not everyone uses the same words to describe things. For example, synonyms of "gossip" include "rumors" and "small talk. "Thinking of synonyms and related words and using these in your search will ensure that you find all relevant papers on your topic.

5. Plan your search strategy using the Boolean Operators AND, OR, NOT
Boolean Operators tell a database or search engine which keywords you want (or don't want) to search.

The AND operator will find documents that contain both keywords. For example, the search "gossip AND evolution" will find documents that have the keywords "gossip" and "evolution" in them. Essentially, the AND operator will help you refine your search if you are getting too many results. For example, the search "gossip AND evolution" is more specific than just searching "gossip."

The OR operator is best used to search for synonyms. For example, "gossip OR small talk" will find documents that have either one of these keywords. The OR operator will help you retrieve more documents because it broadens your topic.

The NOT operator is used to eliminate keywords that you don't want in your search. For example, the search "gossip NOT rumors" will find documents that are about gossip and will not produce documents about rumors. The NOT operator is best used if you are generating a lot of false hits from your searches.

6. Search databases
 Once you have planned your search strategy, you can begin finding articles for your topics. Journal databases will help you find articles that have been published on your topic. To find databases, click “metaLINK” on the library homepage. The following databases may be helpful.

Anthropological Literature B.U. Only
Indexes articles on anthropology, archaeology, art history, demography, economics, psychology, and religious studies.

BIOSIS B.U. Only
Covers primarily biological literature.

eHRAF Collection of Ethnography B.U. Only
A cross-cultural database that contains over 350,000 pages of information on all aspects of cultural and social life. The database offers overviews of cultures on general topics such as demography, economy, social organization and more. 
User Guide http://www.yale.edu/hraf/user_search.htm

Medline B.U. Only
The U.S. National Library of Medicine's (NLM) premier bibliographic database that contains over 12 million references to journal articles in life sciences with a concentration on biomedicine.

PsycInfo B.U. Only
Covers psychological research.

Web of Science B.U. Only
ISI Web of Science offers access to approximately 8500 research publications in hundreds of disciplines.

7. Finding your articles
Articles can be found in one of four places.

a. Full text in the database: Sometimes when you search a database the article will be right there in either PDF or HMTL form.

b. Full text in another database: If the article is not full text, click on the SFX link ( ) and this will tell you if an article can is available full text in another database.

c. In print: If it says "Check library catalogue for holdings" when you click on the SFX link, then you will need to check the library catalogue to see if we have the a print copy of the journal. Print journals journals may be located in one of several places - you will need to check the library holdings to find out exactly where your journal is located.

d. At another library: Even if the library does not subscribe to a particular journal, it is still possible to get a copy of an article using the Interlibrary Loan Service (ILL). In order to do this you will need to set up an Illiad account.
REMEMBER: Articles ordered through Illiad can sometimes take a week or two to arrive.