Literature Research Lab Orientation

Before completing Lab 1:

• Understand the format of the Literature Research Laboratory
• Explore this Web Site
• Install required software
• Understand the relationship between your analysis and prior knowledge
• Understand plagiarism and learn how to avoid it
• Find and learn the citation style to be used for your Reports
• Complete this week's assignment!

The Literature Research Laboratory

Labs 1 and 6-8 can be completed independently, with Instructor help by appointment. For Labs 2-5, you will meet in a Science Complex computer room with Dr. Wood and a Teaching Assistant. This time should be spent using the course web site and internet-based resources to gather the information required for your research article analysis. Outside the Lab sessions, you will read the materials you've found and write your Lab Reports.

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The Course Web Sites

This website is your guide to the Literature Research Laboratory

Survey the resources available, paying particular attention to the Lab Guide and the Review Article List. You will use the Review Article List to select a research topic. Notice that each Lab page ends with an Assignment to be completed before the next lab session.

General course information for each semester, including Report deadlines, can be obtained from the MICR*3260 site on Courselink.

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Downloads

If you will be using your home computer for the Literature Research Lab, make sure that it is prepared now by installing an appropriate Web Browser and Adobe Acrobat. Choose appropriate reference management software and, if appropriate, download Mendeley.

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Your analysis and prior knowledge: Citations

Some knowledge is generally accepted by the scientific community and included in textbooks (at least until it is proven incorrect and/or updated!). Such information can usually be stated without a reference. References must be cited to substantiate all other statements based on previous publications. Remember this as you work on your analysis. Keep track of your sources so that you can cite them correctly in your Lab Reports!

Use Mendeley or a similar program to manage your references and prepare your reports. You can download the free Mendeley software, register for a Mendeley account and use the online tutorials to get started.

Citation allows your readers to find the (primary) information on which you based your work. This is important because they may wish to learn more about your topic or judge for themselves whether your interpretation is correct. Within the scientific community, the greatest weight is placed on peer reviewed articles. In the process of peer review (or scientific quality control), a publication editor invites one or more individuals provide a review (that is, a critique) of an article that has been submitted for publication. The referees are chosen because they are the scientific equals or peers of the authors and editor. The authors are then asked to respond to the reviews, which are usually provided to them anonymously. The editor, chosen for his/her knowledge of the subject and proven ability to make objective judgments, must be satisfied that the submitted article is valuable and correct, and that all valid criticisms have been addressed before the article is published.

You can learn more about peer review by following the next two links. The first one provides information about the peer review process as it is used by the scientific publisher, Elsevier: What is Peer Review?. The second one is designed to help non-scientists understand and use scientific information: Making Sense of Science Stories.

For most sections of your reports, you will cite only peer reviewed publications (journals and books such as those cited in the Review Article List). In exploring the research methods and the human context for your research article you will also use sources that are not peer reviewed. All information sources must be documented with citations. References to email communications and private conversations will not be accepted as citations for your Lab Reports. Detailed information about documenting your sources is below, on the Help page and in the instructions for Lab Report 1.

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Plagiarism

As indicated by the University of Guelph Undergraduate Calendar, stringent penalties are imposed for plagiarism, which is a form of academic misconduct:

"Plagiarism specifically can be understood as: the act of copying, reproducing or paraphrasing significant portions of someone else's published or unpublished material, and representing these as one's own thinking by not acknowledging the appropriate source or by the failure to use appropriate quotation marks. These materials include: literary compositions and phrasing, performance compositions, chemical compounds, art works, laboratory reports, research results, calculations and the results of calculations, diagrams, constructions, and computer reports or software."

Use this Laboratory to learn how to write about scientific research without plagiarizing the work of others. Consult Dr. Wood if you are in any doubt about how to avoid plagiarism.

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Citation Styles

You can obtain citation style help via this link: Citation Style help

In scientific writing, each author phrases statements or opinions in her or his own words, citing other authors as sources of information and ideas. Direct quotes are almost never used in scientific writing, so citations MUST ALWAYS BE USED to acknowledge information sources.

For this project, you will use direct quotes only to report information, obtained during Lab 4 (Understanding the Societal Context of the Research), that is not from peer reviewed sources. If direct quotes are used, “they MUST BE enclosed in quotation marks and, if possible, printed in italics”. Then the source of the quote must be cited.

A variety of editorial styles are used for citation, but there are some common themes. Usually a number or the author(s) name(s) and year of publication are placed in the text at the end of a statement based on the cited work. Cited references are listed at the end of the document either numbered and in order of citation or in alphabetical (and chronological) order by author name. Since each journal or publisher specifies a particular style for reference citation, authors who wish to publish in a particular journal must use that style. Adopting and consistently using a valid citation style ensures that you include all the information a reader will need to find any source you cite.

For this course, use the citation format of Molecular Microbiology. Look up this style now. Use your reference management software to make sure that you record all the information you'll need to cite your sources using Molecular Microbiology format.

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