FAQs:
- How can I obtain a copy of a review or research article, if I have only its citation?
- What are the criteria for selection of a research article?
- What is a reference citation? a citation format? What reference citation format should I use?
- How can reference management software help me?
- Where do I find the weekly labs?
- How do I contact my Prof or TA?
FAQ #1: How can I obtain a copy of a review or research article, if I have only its citation?
Follow the steps below:
- Use TRELLIS or PRIMO to look for the journal/book in which your review article is published. Then find the article on the internet! If you need help using PRIMO or finding an article that's not available online, ask a librarian, your TA or your Instructor for help. If the journal/book containing your article has been borrowed, you can request its return by placing a Recall.
- If a journal/book is not available at Guelph but it is available in one of the other TUG libraries (Waterloo or Wilfrid Laurier), request a circulating book by placing a Hold or a Recall, or request a photocopy by using either RACER or TUGDoc. Turn around time for an article ordered through RACER is two weeks versus 2-3 days for a TUGdoc article.
If you don't know how to use the resources listed above, just ask for help. Although all published material can be obtained in at least one of the ways described above, some of them take a little time (up to a week or two). Rather than falling far behind with your work, choose an article for review that is available locally. The slower mechanisms can be used to obtain additional information. If you badly want to see an article that is not immediately available, consult Dr. Wood. She may be able to help.
NOTE: "The tools described above are powerful, so it's not acceptable to argue that resources are not available for your use!
FAQ #2: What are the criteria for selection of a research article?
Your article must:
- be published 5 to 10 years ago (e.g. between 2006 and 2010, for students taking the course in W16). Analyses of more recent articles will not be accepted! This is important because you will later search for information on the context and outcome of the research. There will be no outcome for more recent articles!
- be a full research paper, not a review article or a "Note". To be certain that you have chosen a full research paper verify that it includes a distinct section labeled "Methods", "Materials and Methods", "Experimental Procedures" or the equivalent. Also make sure that the article includes separate "Results" and "Discussion" or "Conclusions" sections.
- help you to understand the course material.
- clearly list the experimental methods used by the researchers.
Note that many articles include supplemental information that is published online but not in print. Some methods and results may be explained in the supplemental information, not in the main text of the article. All supplemental information is considered part of the article, and it must be included in your review. Supplemental information can be obtained from the Journal's web page.
You must have (or be able to acquire) the necessary background knowledge to understand and analyze this article. Beware of authors who use every experimental technique known to humanity (or at least, microbiology)! They will increase your workload for Labs 3 and 6, and for your Reports.
FAQ #3: What is a reference citation? a citation format? What reference citation format should I use?
Have you ever been frustrated because you couldn't find a book or article that was cited in a reference you were using? Have you ever found a citation that was incomplete or incorrect? You can prevent that from happening to readers of your work.
Reference citations are footnotes that list the publications that are the sources of information included in technical reports, like your Lab Reports. Citations provide evidence to support written statements. Standardized formats are used for citations. This helps authors to include all pertinent information and makes it easy for readers to locate that information. Different publishers use different citation styles. It's essential to choose a citation style for each writing project, then use it consistently.
The reference citation format for each scientific journal is described in the "Instructions to Authors" or "Author Guidelines" published on the journal's web site. For this course, use the citation format of Molecular Microbiology.
Evaluating and Citing Internet Sources The internet creates new opportunities and new challenges for scientific investigation and scientific writing. You probably don't remember the pre-internet world (the internet became widely available in the 1980s), the scientific community is still learning how to use the internet effectively. The internet gives each individual the freedom to post information AND makes that information widely available. As a result, every internet user must evaluate the validity of each internet source.
Researchers use peer review as their primary tool to evaluate the reliability of published work. (A discussion of peer review can be found in the Literature Research Lab Orientation. Peer review isn't perfect but it's currently the best tool we have for this purpose.) For this project, only peer reviewed publications may be cited when you report your work for Labs 5-8. These publications may or may not be available online; they should be cited using the standard journal or book citation formats specified by Molecular Microbiology.
You may cite information that was not "peer reviewed" when reporting your work for Labs 3 (technical information provided by companies that sell scientific instruments and supplies) and 4 (the web sites of individual researchers, the places where they work, the agencies that fund their work and the journals in which they publish). Such information will usually be found online, and again it should be cited using the citation format specified by Molecular Microbiology.
Discuss literature citation with your Intructor or TA if you need more help.
Personal Communications Since personal communications (information received in person, by telephone or by email) cannot be substantiated, they must not be cited in your reports.
FAQ #4: How can reference management software help me?
Reference management software can help you by building a database of references relevant to any project (drawing the information directly from the internet), interfacing with word processing software to insert references in the text as you write a report, and then using the format you choose to create the in text citations and reference list when your document is complete. Reference management software is available both free (e.g. Mendeley) and for purchase (e.g. EndNote). If you don't already use another program, we recommend the use of Mendeley for this course (and other courses!). Very effective tutorials are available on the Mendeley website, the use of Mendeley will be demonstrated in class, and your Instructor and TA can help you to get started with Mendeley during the Lab sessions. Don't hesitate to get started right away - this will take the "editorial pain" out of report writing!
How can I make sure my citation format is correct?
Don't be frustrated by losing Lab Report marks for using incorrect or incomplete reference citations. No excuses will be accepted for incorrect formatting of citations! Learn the citation format now - including:
- the required information (for journal articles, this includes author names, year of publication, article title, journal name, volume and page numbers);
- the correct punctuation, character spacing and fonts (including bold);
- the correct abbreviations for author names and journal titles.
Common errors include incorrect name formats, incorrect journal name abbreviations and the inclusion of unnecessary information (e.g. issue numbers). There is a standard abbreviation for each journal title. If you are not certain of an abbreviation, consult the Index Medicus list of journal name abbreviations. Remember to italicize gene names and organism names, as applicable!
Unfortunately reference management software can't solve all these problems for you unaided. Since each journal can select its own citation format, the citations dropped into your reference manager will not be standardized and this can affect they way they appear in your document's reference list. For example, some journals capitalize every title word, whereas others (e.g. Mol Microbiol) capitalize only the first title word. Some journals use full author names, whereas most use author surnames and initials. Usually organism name italics are lost when references are acquired from the internet. Some of these variations can be corrected by tailoring your citation output, using tools available in your reference manager. Others (e.g. capitalization of titles) have to be standardized in your reference database. Take care to scan each reference as you "capture" it and make editorial corrections then, not as your submission deadline looms!
FAQ #5: Where do I find the weekly labs?
Weekly labs can be found on the Research Lab main page of the MICR*3260 website.
FAQ #6: How do I contact my Prof or TA?
You will find information on how to contact your Prof and TA on the Contact page of the MICR*3260 website.