4 Tips for Finding Sources for a Science Term Paper

Science is constantly advancing –just ask your parents to show you their cell phones (if they have any). Finding resources that contain information relevant to the topic of your science term paper may be tricky, especially in modern times where the Internet’s vast potential for spreading knowledge is only matched by its capacity to misinform and mislead.

Here are 4 tips to find reliable sources for writing a well-researched science term paper:

  1. Google and Yahoo! are a good place to start. Google might provide you with some hits containing information that’s relevant to your science paper. However, instead of wasting time and relying on luck to find useful information, you should take a good, long look at online scholarly databases such as Bielefeld Academic Search Engine (BASE) or EBSCO, which provide access to an extensive collection of intellectually selected resources. And please, avoid Wikipedia at all costs!
  2. Don’t forget about your good, old-fashioned library! Use them to your advantage before the Internet kills every last one of them! There is something about the idea of having to walk a few blocks to get there that discourages a lot of people from visiting their closest library. But the truth is, once you shake the inertia of using the Internet as your only resource, and figure out how to find exactly what you’re looking for, you’ll be begging the librarian to let you stay “just a couple of minutes” after closing time.
  3. Use encyclopedias, but don’t make them your only resource! Whether it’s a digital issue or the good, old-fashioned bulky volumes of the Britannica, encyclopedias usually hold a great of useful information. However, the information in these resources may sometimes be outdated, which means there may already be a different source of information that scientifically rejects what is stated to be true on the encyclopedia. Widen your research and match the information from any encyclopedia with the information from other resources to confirm it is still valid and useful to your science paper.
  4. Print is not really dead! Just because you don’t read the newspapers, it doesn’t mean they have nothing to contribute to your science paper. The same goes for magazines and other printed resources. TIME magazine, The New York Times, and maybe even your local newspaper may have some valuable information you can add to your material –and most likely the latest!