BIOL 211 Jorve Hoos Getting Started

 For this assignment, you are required to:

  • read the Walther et al 2002 article (review)

  • find and read two additional primary peer reviewed articles from the scientific literature that include figures with temperature on the x-axis and some organismal response on the y-axis.

Link to in-class google slides: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1tJJvehr3pstquhYJSU-UatvhDhxcHGGKjIyE6oLdfLU/edit?usp=sharing 

Tips on getting started: 

  1. Determine what species and performance you want to learn more about. 

    • Read through the Walther article and locate some of the articles summarized by the authors

    • Do some searching on the open web (Google, Bing, etc) for climate change and effects on performance

  2. Figure out your search terms:

    • "climate change" AND specific species latin name AND performance

  3. Give yourself plenty of time! 

    • You'll have to open/read through a lot of articles to find ones that include a graph that meets the assignment requirements. Begin searching now. 

What's a "primary" research article?

  Primary Articles Review Articles
topic
  • present information on an original experiment
  • summarize current research on a topic or answer a question by reviewing lots of different primary articles
authors
  • the authors are the same people who conducted the experiment
  • authors are typically experts in the field who have the authority/expertise to provide an overview
  • authors are not the same people who conducted the experiments mentioned in the article
currency
  • articles report on experiments that were completed close to the time of publication 
  • articles report on studies that were completed in the past
reading level
  • can be very difficult to read for students because the language can be very technical 
  • written at a more general level than primary research articles (although can still be difficult to understand)
use
  • use information from primary articles as support for your hypothesis
  • cite these!
  • use information to learn more about a topic
  • look up articles referenced in the list of citations -- these are often primary research articles that you can use for your assignment