Image courtesy of Markus Rodder, found via compfight

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/

It’s that time of the semester again when students are frantically trying to finish up research papers.  If you still need research help please stop by the library.  If you are working on putting your paper together or formatting your works cited page I would suggest looking at Purdue’s Online Writing Lab also known as OWL.  It has up to date MLA and APA citation style guides that show you exactly how to cite your research.  If you are graduating and looking for a job the OWL also has a nice section on job search writing and resumes.

Cooper’s Hawk, a Bird that lives in Illinois
Courtesy of birdfreak

http://www.conservationmaven.com/

To celebrate Earth Day I’d like to highlight a conservation Web site called Conservation Maven.  This site digests new conservation research articles into fun, readable stories.  For example see “The Wilderness Cemetery: a new approach to funding land conservation” or “The Risk of Reptile Imports Invading Florida“.

Image courtesy of cindiann via compfight

Regardless of some of the controversy surrounding Google Books, this resource can be a great tool to use for research papers.  All you’ll need to do is type in a keyword describing what you are looking for and a list of books will appear on the screen.  Many older books are all online, but not all appear in their entirety (some have a chapter or two for you to preview).  Google Books is also a great way to preview a book before you might want to buy it!

Visit the library in Collins Hall and talk to a librarian if you want to learn more about this resource!

Image via wikimedia

http://www.sciencedaily.com/

I would definitely recommend using the library’s databases if you are looking for scholarly science articles, but what if you are looking for topic ideas or want to browse science stories for fun?  In that case, I would recommend Science Daily.  Science Daily has hundreds of short articles that summarize research articles that have been published.

Science Daily covers a wide variety of topics from psychology “Psychologists Search for Secret of Happiness at Work” to archaeology “Giant Stone Head of Ancient Egypt’s King Amenhotep III Discovered”.

Photo courtesy of Mundoo, found via Compfight

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/medlineplus.html

Do you need information on a health related topic that you can trust?  If you do, I would recommend you start at a Web site called Medline Plus.  This site, put out by the U.S. National Library of Medicine and National Institutes of Health, is your link to interactive health tutorials, medical encyclopedias, and health related news.