Searching the Scientific Literature

Abstract

Before you carry out your first experiment in the lab, you would be well advised to spend some time in the library (whether virtual or real) doing a thorough literature search of your research topic. Perhaps you worked on a project in this same field as an undergraduate, or think you are familiar with the field because it is related to other work you have done. Even if you have some knowledge of the literature on your project, you shouldn’t skip this step.

The history of science knows scores of instances where an investigator was in the possession of all the important facts for a new theory, but simply failed to ask the right questions.

– Ernst Mayr