Welcome! Click on a tab below to find books, articles, and websites for use in this course.
You'll need a College of DuPage Library card in order to use most of the resources below from off campus. If your card is not working, it may need to be reactivated.
Questions? Contact me (info to the right), stop by the Reference Desk, or contact us by email or chat.
Picking Your Topic
The field of genetics can encompass anything from vaccines to food to human cloning. One of the best ways to find a research topic that interests you is to look at dictionaries and encyclopedias in order to figure out what studies in genetics are being done.
Start with the following:
Scientific Thought in Context
Gale Virtual Reference Library ONLINE
You can also browse through Google News reports to get a sense of good topics to investigate.
Still Feeling Lost?
Try looking at current magazines and/or journals to see what types of research are being done in genetics. At our library, we have the following in print:
- Scientific American
- Science News
- Bioscience
- American Scientist
Searching Databases to Find Articles:
Once you know what keywords or topics you'd like to pursue, it's time to head to the databases in order to find good sources.
Academic Search Complete is a database covering a wide variety of topics, with articles ranging from newspaper and magazine articles to scholarly articles. Therefore, you want to be very careful about looking at the results of your search to make sure that you have a scientific research article for class. One way to do this is to limit your research to Scientific American while searching online.
To do this, start by clicking on Academic Search Complete.
Once you're in the database, click "Publications."
Then, type "Scientific American" and hit browse.
Click on Scientific American. Then, hit "search within this publication" on the left of the screen. You'll see that your original search box now saws JN "Scientific American".
Click on the second search box down and either type your paper topic or try typing in DNA OR Gene OR Genetic OR Genome.
Start searching through the results. Remember, you want to summarize an article that is substantive (i.e. at least 2 pages long) and relatively recent (published in the last 2-3 years.)
Using APA Style
Find directions about how to cite your sources on the library citation guide.
Most databases will have a Cite link that you can also click to get article citations.
Finally, you are welcome to use NoodleBib if you'd like to use a program to create and organize your citations. You must "Create a New Folder" when you use NoodleBIB for the first time. Click on "I am citing a(n):," choose the type of item you are citing, and then fill in the online form. Your bibliography will be formatted for you.
Further questions about APA style? Check out the APA Style Blog, which includes sample papers.