Overview
Now it is your turn to find a scientific article in the area you want. Pick any topic you would like to learn more about in Biology. This can be anything from Covid-19, ecology, climate change, cancer biology, or any other relevant topics in biology.
So go ahead think about it... What did you always wanted to learn more about? What interests you?
Do you have a topic in mind? ok great, now think a little more details about it. For example if you want to learn more about covid-19, what aspect of it? are you more interested in viruses and how they work? Are you more interested in the immune system? are you more interested in vaccines? are you more interested in health? (These questions will help you narrow down the topic to a specific element).
Once you have a specific question that you would like to know more about, now you are ready to start searching for a scientific paper article that may answer your question.
For example if your question is "how the covid-19 RNA vaccine works" or the "effect of smoking on cancer development" (Please don't use my examples!)
Or using Google scholar https://scholar.google.com/Links to an external site.
You can do a search on a specific topic and find a primary source that could answer your question.
For example I would type in: "mode of action of the covid 19 m-RNA vaccine" or "The effect of climate change on the water cycle" or "ecological issues associated with human overpopulation". (Remember pick a topic YOU want to know more about)
The more specific your wording is the better results you will get. You will get thousands of results at first glance so try to narrow it down to the most relevant and most recent. Please only use papers from the last 10 years!
Once you have your results look through the abstracts of the papers you find. Never pay money for any scientific articles (If there's a paywall ignore that paper and find another one that is free to view). The paper usually is in a pdf form.
Read a few abstracts and even maybe modify your search if needed.
Then once you find the article you want to read please do the following:
1) Attach a copy of the article or send me a link for the primary source. Remember NO news articles and NO textbooks ONLY primary sources of scientific research.
2) Read the article's abstract and discussion (This part will take time! Don't be discouraged by how difficult the paper might be. It's really great that you found a paper you liked, and you are doing great by simply reading it! So don't be scared or overwhelmed! Just do your best and that's enough!), then write a two paragraph analysis of the paper and their findings.
3) Next, write a paragraph covering any of the following. If you were to redo the experiments they did what other variables would you include? are there any limitations to the study? What is the future of this type of research? How does this type of study help humans?
4) Finally, tell me honestly what you thought of the process of finding research articles and reading it (It's ok if you hated it). You really should be proud of yourself! You took a huge step today in advancing your knowledge and your analytical skills.