Research Group: Ecology

honey bee / honeybee / western honey bee = "apis mellifera" / European honey bee

"bee diversity"

pollination

pollinators / "pollinator diversity" /

habitat / "habitat needs" / "habitat diversity" / "habitat enhancement" / "habitat modification"

"ecosystem services"

native / wild / feral

managed / domesticated

Keywords

Identify your key concepts and related terms.

• Example: I am interested in what ecosystem services pollinators provide.

Locate Databases

Select appropriate search tools and/or sites.

• Databases > Subject > e.g. Science (Environmental)

Search Strategies

Construct a search.  Start with keyword searching. Could be simple or using AND/Or (Boolean Operators).  Join similar terms with OR. Join dissimilar terms with AND

• "ecosystem services" AND (pollinators OR pollination)

Search for variations of a word using a truncation symbol (*) at the end of the terms.

• e.g. pollinat* will search for pollinator, pollinators, pollination etc.

Look for a phrase, using quotation marks " ".

• e.g. "ecosystem services" / "habitat diversity"

Review

Skim citation and abstract information to determine the usefulness of the source. 

• Viewing an introduction or conclusion can be helpful too.
• Sometimes a snippet in available on the results lists. 
• You may have to click on the article titles, or click on a preview to see the abstract.

Reflect

Revise search as needed.  Too many or too few results?  Is this a suitable search tool?  Am I retrieving relevant results?

• "ecosystem services" AND (pollinators OR pollination) AND (honeybees OR "honey bees")

Leverage Database Functionality

Consider searching for certain terms in specific fields. e.g. Title field

• honeybees OR "honey bees" (Title) AND "habitat diversity" (All Fields)

Use options to Limit or Refine e.g. by Date or Document type (original research articles, review articles ...)

• e.g. Science Direct > Advanced Search > Journals tab > has a Limit by Document Type section

Find a highly relevant article and look for "Related Articles".

• e.g. on full record in Science Direct, see "Related Articles" box at right

Leverage a Source

View bibliographies for references to other resources or organizations.  Search for the known item or known organization.

• e.g. I found a references in an article to this citation: Kremen, C., N. M. Williams, R. L. Bugg, J. P. Fay, and R. W. Thorp. 2004. The area requirements of an ecosystem service: Crop pollination by native bee communities in California. Ecology Letters 7:1109–1119.

Try searching a specific domain in Google with Search terms site:.gov (or .edu)

Already have a citation for a book or article?  Try the following:

Search in UC Library Search, the library's catalog.

Search in Google Scholar, especially for article titles.

If a journal article, check to see if we have the journal for that year.  Use e-Journals tab in QuickSearch.

Sample Citation:  Dramstad, W., and G. Fry. 1995. Foraging activity of bumblebees (Bombus) in relation to flower resources on arable land. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment 53:123–135.

Sample Citation: O’Toole, C., and A. Raw. 1999. Bees of the World. 192 pp. London: Blandford.

Sample Citation: Kremen, C., N. M. Williams, R. L. Bugg, J. P. Fay, and R. W. Thorp. 2004. The area requirements of an ecosystem service: Crop pollination by native bee communities in California. Ecology Letters 7:1109–1119.

How would we go about finding these?