Read over your assigned topic. What kinds of information do you need?
An important step in locating information is identifying keywords that can help you retrieve answers to your questions. Keywords are words and phrases that describe the main concepts. You will use these keywords when searching both online and print resources.
Look at this sample topic where you can see the keywords highlighted:
25. The Discovery of Two New Toxins
Poisons are a topic of interest to both chemists and laypersons. The discovery of two new toxins in 1981 aroused considerable interest. The first of these toxins was name gilatoxin after the animal in which it was first found, the Gila monster. The LD50 dosage for gilatoxin is 2.5 mg per kg of body weight in experimental mice.
---------------------------------------Questions and Problems--------------------------------------------
Chemists do understand the mechanisms by which many poisons work. Select any poison in which you are interested and try to find out the chemical reactions involved in the toxic effect of that poison.
The expression LD50 is used in describing the toxicity of a compound. Find out what that expression means and how it is used in toxicology.
Take some time to read over your assigned topic and identify keywords using your Lab Notes worksheet. List the significant keywords and phrases related to your questions, then group them in categories.
General keywords are used to broaden the search if you need more results. ( ex. poison, toxic)
Specific keywords can be used to narrow the search if you get too many unfocused results. ( ex. gliatoxin, LD50 )
Here are electronic versions of the Lab Notes you will need to complete your assignment.
You can download the word document to edit. Don't have Microsoft Word? You can get access by following the steps here (you may need to log in with your ACCeID and password).
For the google document, you will need to make a copy of the document before you can edit. Have questions about google docs? Get more information here.
