.Information Literacy in the Sciences

"You asked me if an ordinary person by studying hard would get to be able to imagine these things like I imagine. Of course! I was an ordinary person who studied hard. There's no miracle people. It just happens they got interested in this thing and they learned all this stuff. They're just people. There's no talent; a special miracle ability to understand quantum mechanics or a miracle ability to imagine electromagnetic fields that comes without practice and reading and learning and study. So if you say you take an ordinary person who was willing to devote a great deal of time and study and work and thinking and mathematics and time, then he's become a scientist."

Richard P. Feynman, Nobel Prize in Physics 1965

So your professor has assigned a science information project. What do you do now? How can you start?

Science Help from the ISU Library

Well, you may always ask the science librarians for help, of course.

In addition, the ISU Library has Subject Guides which provide tips and information for completing known ISU assignments.

Beginning science courses often cover science dogma--well-established and accepted facts within the sciences. Paper assignments in the 100/200 level courses often cover already known science dogma. Science dogma tends to be in science textbooks and reference works/books.

Science Textbooks

Look in the textbook for your course to see if it covers basic information about your topic. BUT the ISU Library also holds some textbooks that may explain things in a different way that works for you. Even an older textbook can sometimes explain science dogma well.

1. You may use the Library Catalog to find science textbooks owned by the ISU Library. A search will find textbooks in both print and online.
2. Textbooks are usually located at the beginning of a call number range (e.g., QD 100-200) so you may go to that location in the ISU Library and just look. Textbooks are often called "Earth Science" or "Introduction to Organic Chemistry" or "Fundamentals of General Biology" or some other exciting title like that.

The ISU Library uses the Library of Congress Classification System to establish where to locate physical items.
Subclass Q Science (General)
Subclass QA Mathematics
Subclass QB Astronomy
Subclass QC Physics
Subclass QD Chemistry
Subclass QE Geology
Subclass QH Natural history - Biology
Subclass QK Botany
Subclass QL Zoology
Subclass QM Human anatomy
Subclass QP Physiology
Subclass QR Microbiology

Using Science Books and Reference Works

Science books and reference works can be a little scary for a students. They may include a lot of information still unfamiliar to you. Be patient with yourself as you learn how to make use of them. Below are a few tips.

1. Look up unfamiliar terminology in a science glossary, dictionary, or the Internet. It will take time for the language of scientists to become familiar to you. And there will always be words you don't know. Just look them up. Be patient with yourself – you’re learning new terminology, which takes time! 
2. Use the index at the back of print books to find information. Your topic may be in multiple parts of the book and the index will point you to them. If it is not in the index, perhaps this is not the best book for this topic.
3. Use the search of e-books to find information. Your topic may be in multiple parts of the book and the search will point you to them. However, the ISU Library e-book searches search for only the EXACT string of characters that you enter. So a search for "experiment" will not retrieve "experiments." Take that under consideration.
4. Also, use the Table of Contents of the book. Your topic may be listed in a dedicated section of the book.
5. Skim over the images, tables, sidebars, figures, etc. of the book. They can be very helpful for understanding complicated information.