The results were actually mildly interesting. People suggested I write it up, which I am in the process of doing right now. I didn't really research it that well when I came up with the idea, so I'm going back and doing a lot of the research I should have done. The interesting thing is...I can't find any studies that did anything like what I did.
Really? I'm the first to do this? In over 50 years of intensive stream research, which birthed some of the greatest minds in ecology like Gene Likens, Bob Wetzel, and Ray Lindeman?? Really?!?
I'm sure I'm missing something. I've used every permutation of relevant search terms I can think of. What else could I use?
- Early colonize/ation/ing
- Successional
- Periphyton/Benthic algae/al
- Nutritional quality/stoichiometry
My first thought is what databases are you searching and does your subscription extend to the backfile? This seems like it could be basic research so if you aren't finding anything then check that you are searching far back enough (either a search limit or a subscription wall).
ReplyDeleteMy next thought is have you searched a few different databases (since different databases index different journals- Scopus, Biosis, SciFinder, etc.)? As you suspected, it could also be your search term choice- did you check the database's thesaurus?
Finally, you can use a truncation symbol (or wildcard) to avoid typing in all the permuations of a word like canad* for canada, canadian, canadians, etc. The symbol varies from database to database but it is usually a *.
First, Omg! Some one reads this!!! Thank you!
ReplyDeleteSecond, I have definitely been abusing the *wildcard, I just wasn't sure how well it would translate in a blog post.
Also, I'm trapped at a crappy "liberal arts" U and our science resources aren't super. I've got Google Scholar and JStor as search engines. Though I wasn't aware that they may have thesaurases, I will have to check that out.
Next step is to ask Advisor if he knows of anything/anyone also looking at this and then I will start trawling faculty webpages.
Thanks again for reading!
Yep- I read every post (you are in my RSS feed). I don't often comment since: 1. we are in very different PhD fields so I don't always have much to contribute (me- chemistry and information science) and 2. I don't want to look like a deranged stalker since uh...there aren't a lot of folks commenting here.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, JSTOR (content really depends on the backfiles that your library has purchased) and Google Scholar (black box for searching) really aren't the best sources for this type of search. Scopus and Biosis are probably your best choices to start with (and maybe SciFinder since their indexing is top-notch). If you would like some help with your search then just send me an email (I think you can see my email address). I have access to pretty much any resource and a lot of experience constructing search strategies. :)
I thought your name looked familiar! It's been a long time, since my Dr. Isis bump in hits. Well, thanks for being there with me :-) I will look into some of those other resources...perhaps some of my old uni passwords still work....
ReplyDeleteI'm here too. I just have nothing (of value) to contribute.
ReplyDelete