BMED19010 - Macromolecules and Cell Function - Assessment item 2 Guide

This guide has been designed to assist you in locating resources for your second assessment item.  This guide will build on knowledge covered in the BMED19010 course guide.

• Task
• Assessment Criteria
• Primary Sources
• Finding Keywords
• Searching Databases
  • ScienceDirect
  • Scopus
• Other places to search
• Evaluation
• Referencing

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Assessment Task

Assessment item 2 states:

"Circular proteins were almost unknown 10 years ago but their discovery has revolutionised the thinking about the structure and function of proteins" (200-300)

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Assessment Criteria

Your course profile outlines some important requirements.  These include:

• a need to read and review primary articles
• a need to select THREE ONLY primary articles
• Inclusion of:
  • Key facts
  • Current material

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Primary Sources

More help?

How Knowledge is Arranged

Primary sources can be defined as sources that deal with original ideas and research. Often these are published in the form of reports, journal articles or conference papers. Legislation and standards are also primary sources.

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Finding Keywords

More help?

Thinking about your topic Identifying the type of information you need Keyword searching AND/OR/NOT Boolean searching Concepts, keywords, synonyms and related terms

The BMED19010 course guide contained some guidelines for creating a list of keywords.  The same procedure can be used for this assessment as well.

You may wish to use tertiary resources like Access Science to acquire some background information to help identify your initial keywords.

As mentioned in the previous guide, you should not use Wikipedia as your only tertiary source. 

Wikipedia lacks structured editorial control of the quality of its content.  It is an open access encyclopedia which means that anyone can create and edit articles.   Wikipedia claims that inaccurate content is usually removed quickly, however this is not always the case, and it is best used in conjunction with another tertiary source.

Some keywords you may wish to start with include:

• "circular protein"

• "cyclic proteins"

• "protein structure" AND function

Be sure to use " " when you search for a phrase.

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Searching Databases

For a list of databases relevant to the Biomedical Science discipline, check out:
Databases & Resources by Subject: Biomedical Science

We recommend you start with these databases:

• ScienceDirect
• Scopus

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ScienceDirect

Science Direct is an electronic collection of science, technology and medicine full text and bibliographic information.

A guide for using ScienceDirect is available.

This Flash movie demonstrates a search of ScienceDirect using the terms from your first assessment item.  (Duration: 1 min 40sec. File size: 560KB - A free Flash player is available from Adobe.)

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Scopus

Scopus is a large indexing and abstracting database providing access to scientific, technical, medical and social sciences literature.

Scopus contains citations and abstracts only.  You can use Article Linker to see if CQU has full-text access through another database.

Scopus offers enhanced functionality including a summary of search findings.  This can help you identify key authors within a field.

For example, if you were to do a search for "circular protein":

You could tell at a glance who some prolific writers were.  You also have the option of looking at a specific year.

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Other places to search

While completing this assessment item, you may like to consult some other sources, such as:

• Nature
• Synergy
• Wiley Interscience
• Highwire Press
• CROs

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Evaluation

More help?

Evaluating your resources What is plagiarism?

Since you are required to submit only three references, you will need to ensure they are the best you can find.

The criteria for evaluating sources is included on page 20 of your laboratory manual.  It requires you to consider the author, the author's purpose, the audience and the journal.

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Referencing

More help?

CQU's referencing website

Your lecturer has specified that you are not to use direct quotes from your articles.  Rather you should select them on the basis of their value in assisting you to summarise your description of circular proteins.  Where appropriate, you should reference key points in your summary using the recommended referencing style, which is found at the CQU referencing website.