1. Digging for the Roots: Searching for, Assessing, and Acknowledging Scientific Information Sources for Science Fair Projects in Times of Digital Information
2015 Intel ISEF Educator Academy Pittsburgh, PA
Sergiy L. Mosyakin
Institute of Botany, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
May 2015

2. Presentation Outline The Problem
MAJOR STEPS OF THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD AND MANAGEMENT OF SCIENTIFIC INFORMATION SOURCES
PRACTICAL TIPS FOR KEYWORD AND CONTENT SEARCH
PREPARING YOUR SCIENTIFIC REPORT: MANUALS ON SCIENCE WRITING & STYLE AND CITATION STANDARDS
SOFTWARE FOR ORGANIZING INFORMATION: REFERENCE MANAGERS ETC.
Conclusions

3. The Problem
The Scientific Method includes several stages, almost all requiring search for sources of scientific information (scientific articles, databases, patents, media reports, etc.), their critical analysis, and proper acknowledgement (citation, referencing)
Unfortunately, many students at science fairs have problems with presenting results of their analysis of sources:
sometimes only a few references are cited, while other important sources are omitted
no background research data are provided or acknowledged
or sources of information are not presented or cited properly

4. The Problem
Quite often students are unaware of similar or identical research already done and described in literature, or cannot prove their real innovation because of not being sure that their results are really new
However, in our times of freely available digital information it is possible to remove such problems (at least partly) by applying approaches widely used by professional researchers worldwide. These principles and approaches are rather simple, and they can be successfully used not only by experienced scientists, but also by students and educators having access to the web resources.

5. MAJOR STEPS OF THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD AND MANAGEMENT OF SCIENTIFIC INFORMATION SOURCES5

6. The Scientific Method and Sources of Information
All major steps (phases) of the Scientific Method require proper management of scientific information sources

7. Step 1: Asking the Question
Check if the problem is really worth attention
What changes in science and technology are expected due to solving the problem? Any importance for improving the human life, the environment etc.?
Check if there is any existing solution to the problem
If YES, check if you can improve the existing solution or find a better alternative
If NO, try to explain why, check the feasibility of possible solutions

8. Step 2: Doing Background Research
Who is currently working on this or related problem?
In which countries, research institutions, universities, labs?
Tip: Do not hesitate to contact qualified scientists ( is OK) and ask for their opinion on the prospects of your research. Ask for PDF reprints (if not freely available on the Web). Offer your collaboration, if suitable.
Are there many or a few publications on that?
If a few, try to explain why
Insufficient attention to the problem? Not so important? Already solved? Anything else?

9. Step 3: Constructing a Hypothesis
Check if the is are an existing hypothesis or hypotheses (engineering solutions)
Do the existing hypotheses explain all or major aspects of the studied phenomenon? Are there any gaps, shortcomings, remaining problems? Is it possible to improve/modify the hypotheses?
Is any alternative hypothesis (solution) possible? Is it based on solid science? Could it better explain the studied phenomena?
Tip: Do not throw away at once any unexpected or non-standard hypotheses and/or solutions, but always stay within the limits of testable scientific methodology, learn to identify and reject any non-testable pseudoscience alternatives

10. Step 4: Selecting Methods and Testing with an Experiment
Find the information sources providing data on methods suitable for your research
Tip: In most research articles there is a section called Material and Methods (or Research Protocols, or something like that). Check the references in that section. Always properly cite the reference(s) on methods.
Check if there are any modifications in methods and procedures. Can you improve that?
Tip: Any changes or modifications in accepted or recommended methods should be justified, explained and described in your research report.

11. Step 5: Analyzing Data and Drawing Conclusions
Find the information sources on methods of data analysis, statistics, etc.
Tip: As in Step 4, pay attention to Material and Methods sections in research articles and references therein. Cite the reference(s) and software used in data analysis
Check the logics of your conclusions. Have you received the results expected in your hypothesis? If no, try to explain why. What does that mean? Hypothesis is TRUE, PARTLY TRUE, or FALSE?
Tip: Your conclusions should normally correspond to your research objectives, give answers (positive or negative) to the questions you asked when you started your research

12. Step 6: Reporting Results
Use the existing scientific publications and/or other sources as models or templates for your reporting
Tip: Reporting should be concise and clear. Use supporting tables, graphs, images, etc.
Use the scientific reporting standards (references will be provided below)
Scientific ethics is the must
Tip: Clearly separate your original data, results and conclusions from those obtained and/or published by other people (even if you use the published information in drawing your conclusions etc.)

13. PRACTICAL TIPS FOR KEYWORD AND CONTENT SEARCH
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14. Growing Scientific Information
Sources of scientific information are growing almost exponentially
How to manage those huge amounts of information?
Fortunately, the availability of scientific information is also growing through the Web
Search engines, Open Access journal and databases
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15. Google Advanced Search
How to use Google Advanced Search to find proper scientific information:
Narrow your search:
Exact phrase, specific terms, exclusion of some keywords, languages, last update, file type…
PDF files (reprints of scientific articles)

16. Google keyword search: basic filtering
The same keywords, PDF only:
655 results, mostly scientific
articles
3 keywords, NO filtering:
ca. 12,800 results

17. Google Scholar

18. Web of Science

19. Scopus/Elsevier

20. PubMed: more than 24 million citations in biomedical sciences

21. Wikipedia http://www.wikipedia.org
“Multilingual, web-based, free-content encyclopedia project <…> based on an openly editable model. <…> written collaboratively by largely anonymous Internet volunteers…”
See what Wikipedia is NOT: In particular, Wikipedia is not a manual, guidebook, textbook, or scientific journal
Excellent and fast-growing public resource, but… “…the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit…”
Quality of articles varies greatly, from nearly perfect, comprehensive, reliable and authoritative to … you can imagine…
Use it as a starting point (basic information, links, references etc.), not as the source of the final truth

22. Society for Science and the Public and Science News

23. PREPARING YOUR SCIENTIFIC REPORT: MANUALS ON SCIENCE WRITING & STYLE AND CITATION STANDARDS23

24. Various Style Manuals
Oxford style and Chicago style for general publishing and readership
AP style for journalism
APA (American Psychological Association) style and ASA style for the social sciences
CSE (Council of Science Editors) style for various physical sciences
ACS (American Chemical Society) style for chemistry
AMA (American Medical Association) style for medicine and biomed sciences
some other styles and standards (national and international)

25. The Chicago Manual of Style – first published in 1906
2011

28.
AMA – American Medical Association Styles best suitable for biomed research

29. MLA Style – http://www.mla.org/

30. UW-Madison Writer's Handbook

31. CSE Examples (Council of Science Editors): Scientific style and format : the CSE manual for authors, editors, and publishers
Book (CSE: p. 505, )
Muir, J, Armstrong L, Hillary E Exploring San Luis Obispo and nearby areas: a guide to biking and hiking on the Central Coast. San Luis Obispo, (CA): SLO Going Press. 224 p.
Book Chapter (CSE: p )
Glynn, RD Duking it out: the story of a Morro Bay power plant. In: Bush GW, Davis, JG, editors. Energy and crisis: the dialectic of electricity in California. Sacramento: Ampere Press. p
Journal Article (CSE: p )
Wesson, T, Hatch, R Group dynamics and competition: A socio- psychological analysis of the Survivor television show. Journal of Media and Social Psychology 25(2):10-36.
Web Site (CSE: p )
Moore, Michael. (n. d.). Moore collection: Underground comix. < Accessed September 30.
Robert E. Kennedy Library:
See more examples in Additional Resources at the end of this presentation

32. In some journals the citation standards can be different

33. Research and Publication Ethics

34. SOFTWARE FOR ORGANIZING INFORMATION: REFERENCE MANAGERS, ETC.34

35. EndNote

36. Zotero

37. Reference Manager & Mendeley: examples of reference management software
See more examples in Additional Resources at the end of this presentation

38. CONCLUSIONS 38

39. Summing Up: Questions and Recapitulation
All stages of the Scientific Method require search for sources of scientific information (scientific articles, databases, patents, etc.), their critical analysis, and proper acknowledgement (citation, referencing)
Manuals on Science Writing and Style
General and specializeg scientific web search engines
Citation, abstract and full-text online databases
Reference manager software
Research ethics: how to cite and what to cite
How to organize your research better using the reference management skills

40. Science is Fun! (Intel Techno 2014, Kiev)
Презентация: Н.Т. Мосякина

41. Special thanks are due to: Intel
Special thanks are due to: Intel Society for Science & the Public and Intel ISEF people: Sharon Snyder, Karen Merrill, and many others Nadia Mosyakina Tatiana Nanaieva (Intel Ukraine) Colleagues and friends at research institutions and universities of Ukraine, the US, and other countries Many other people who shared with us their ideas and experience
Sergei L. Mosyakin, Prof., Dr.Sci.
Corr. Member, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
Director, Institute of Botany of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kiev

42. Thank you for your attention!
Copyright © 2012 Intel Corporation. All rights reserved. Intel and the Intel logo are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and other countries. *Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.

43. ADDITIONAL RESOURCES (extra slides)43

44. PRACTICAL TIPS FOR KEYWORD AND CONTENT SEARCH
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Picture Credit:

45. Popular Web Resources as Educational Tools
Modern online resources and IT provide excellent educational opportunities, but teachers and students need guidance and orientation in the ocean of new scientific information:
Traditional mass media (newspapers, magazines, radio, TV, podcasts etc.)
Web resources (same as above and much more)
Specialized scientific sources of information
etc., etc.
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46. Society for Science and the Public and Science News

47. Science http://www.sciencemag.org/
Science (also Science Magazine), the academic weekly journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), one of the world's top scientific journals
First published in 1880, now has a print subscriber base of around , estimated readership ca. one million people (incl. institutional and online subscription)
Students, K-12 teachers, and some others can subscribe at a reduced fee. Research articles published after are free (with online registration) one year after publication. Some significant articles available for free immediately after publication

48. Science Advances, a new Open Access journal of AAAS

49. Science Multimedia Center http://www.sciencemag.org/site/multimedia/

50. E-Services and Multimedia from Scientific Journals and Popular Science Magazines
ToC (Table of Content) Alerts, Abstracts, etc.
news and news alerts
RSS Feeds RSS (or Really Simple Syndication) is a way to share content without requiring readers to constantly visit a website to see what's new. An RSS feed contains article headlines, summaries and links to the full text of articles or Web pages.
Podcasts (audio and video), other audiovisual resources
Images, posters, booklets, PowerPoint presentations, PDF publications, and other visual/text resources
Special educational materials and tools
Social networks and feedback opportunities
…and many other things…

51. PREPARING YOUR SCIENTIFIC REPORT: MANUALS ON SCIENCE WRITING & STYLE AND CITATION STANDARDS
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES 51

52. AMA Manual – some features ONLINE

53. CSE Examples (Council of Science Editors): Scientific style and format : the CSE manual for authors, editors, and publishers
Book (CSE: p. 505, )
Muir, J, Armstrong L, Hillary E Exploring San Luis Obispo and nearby areas: a guide to biking and hiking on the Central Coast. San Luis Obispo, (CA): SLO Going Press. 224 p.
Book Chapter (CSE: p )
Glynn, RD Duking it out: the story of a Morro Bay power plant. In: Bush GW, Davis, JG, editors. Energy and crisis: the dialectic of electricity in California. Sacramento: Ampere Press. p
Journal Article (CSE: p )
Wesson, T, Hatch, R Group dynamics and competition: A socio- psychological analysis of the Survivor television show. Journal of Media and Social Psychology 25(2):10-36.
Web Site (CSE: p )
Moore, Michael. (n. d.). Moore collection: Underground comix. < Accessed September 30.
Robert E. Kennedy Library:

54. MLA Examples: MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers
Article in a journal (Following MLA 7th ed., p. 137)
Doe, Jane. “Incidental Toxins and Deer Mortality in Central Park.” Pesticides and Urban Ungulates 44.12 (2005): Print.
Article in a magazine (Following MLA 7th ed., p. 143)
Doe, John. “Welders Unite the Nation.” Aviation Weekly 7 Dec : Print.
Book by single author (Following MLA 7th ed., p.149)
Hoffa, James. Solid Cement Mortuary Designs. New York: East River Press, Print.
Book by two or more authors (From MLA 7th ed. p. 154)
Broer, Lawrence R., and Gloria Holland. Hemingway and Women: Female Critics and the Female Voice. Tuscaloosa: U of Alabama P, Print.
Robert E. Kennedy Library:

55. APA Examples: Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association
Book: basic format (Following APA 6th ed., p. 203)
Zabar, A. (1989). Alphabet soup. New York, NY: Stewart, Tabori, & Chang, Inc.
Book with an editor (Following APA 6th ed., p. 202)
Aspinwall, L. G. & Staudinger, U. M. (Eds.). (2002). A psychology of human strengths: Fundamental questions and future directions for a positive psychology. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Article or chapter in an edited book or an anthology (Following APA 6th ed., p. 202)
O’Clair, K. M. (1995). Demonstrating cultural sensitivity in field research. In M. Miller & A. J. Kennedy (Eds.), Principles of applied research (pp ). New York, NY: Sage.
Article in an online magazine (Following APA 6th ed., p. 200)
Blue, R. U. (2008, June). Sad vs. depressed: Psychologists facilitate awareness about mental health symptoms. Monitor on Psychology, 24(3). Retrieved from
Robert E. Kennedy Library:

56. SOFTWARE FOR ORGANIZING INFORMATION (REFERENCE MANAGERS, PROJECT PLANNERS, ETC.)
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES 56

57. Some examples of special software useful for student projects
Online resources (especially interactive ones)
Concise encyclopedias on CD/DVD (such as MS Encarta, Britannica etc.) and Web-based
Research assistants and project planners
Reference managers (Web-based and local)
…and many other things…

58. Encarta Research Assistant http://windows. microsoft

59. Microsoft Student with Encarta