STM 298 - Senior Seminar: Spring 2025

Welcome to the research guide for STM 298. The goal of this guide is to walk you through the process of finding primary articles.

Tips for picking a topic:

• Pick a topic that has two to three concepts.  
• Learning about your topic will help you to define the search terms to use when you search for articles.
• It can take up to a year or two for scholarly articles to be published.  You may have trouble finding articles on very recent topics.

The resources listed below can help you find a topic.  These resources are NOT recommended for scholarly articles.

• EurekAlert! (AAAS)

Install an adblocker before visiting the sites below:

• ScienceDaily.com
• ScienceNews
• The Scientist

Avoiding Crap on the web:  the C.R.A.P. test:

• Currency: When was it written?  Is the information up to date?
• Reliability: Where did the author(s) get their information?  Do they list their sources?
• Authority: Who is the author? What are their credentials?
• Purpose: Is the author trying to sell you something?   Is there a bias?