Biology: Get Started

Reference sources include encyclopedias, handbooks, and dictionaries.  They are a great place to begin your research, since they can help with the following:

• Offer ideas for possible research topics
• Give you background information on your topic
• Define unfamiliar terms
• Suggest keywords to use when searching for books and articles
• Point you to books and articles on your topic, via "works cited" lists

These two sciences databases are great places to browse topic ideas and background information:

Browse our full list of online encyclopedias for biology:

Use these tips to help you choose a research topic:

• To brainstorm ideas to research, try browsing:
  • News in your subject area. (Google biology news to find websites to browse.)
  • The table of contents of a book or encyclopedia in your subject area.
• Do some initial searching on one or more topic ideas, using our main library search box or Google.
• Refine your topic based on what you find:
  • Maybe you found a slight variation or different direction you want to go in.
  • Tons of results? Consider narrowing your topic to focus on a smaller aspect of it.
  • Hardly any results? You may need to broaden your topic and make it less specific.
• In the end, choose something you're interested in.

If you want to discuss topic ideas, stop by the Reference Desk to chat with a librarian.

These search tips work in our library databases and Library Catalog:

• Combine keywords using AND and OR.
  • Use AND for searching different ideas within your topic. E.g. endangered species AND United States
  • Use OR for searching with synonyms of your keywords. E.g. (endangered OR threatened species) AND United States
• Abbreviate words with multiple endings using an asterisk (*). E.g. extinct* to search both extinct and extinction
• Search specific phrases using quotation marks. E.g. "Endangered Species Act"
• Change your search terms around to get different results.

Browse topic ideas and get background information:

Contact the Reference Desk

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