1. Issues: Berkeley Medical
Journal

2. Agenda
 Ice Breaker
 Syllabus/Course expectations
 Finding a Research Source (aka
Primary sources)
 Homework

3. BOOO ICE BREAKERS!!!
 Give your:
◦ Name
◦ Spirit Animal, favorite animal, or least
favorite animal and why.
◦ OR a TV character that you would want to
be your best friend and why.

4. What you need to pass this
class
 Read the syllabus
 Show up every week
 Do your edits every week
 One 10 minute (max!) presentation
 A final package submission
◦ Your 2 articles
◦ Article images (explained in syllabus)
◦ A short bio of yourself
◦ Proof of rights granted for quotes
◦ Recommendation of editor(s) for publishing
(the editors take care of this)

5. How to find a research
source
AKA how to begin finding your topic!!

6. Are you lost? Then it’s time to
EXPOSE YOURSELF & work
backwards
 Common websites to begin with
general information include:
◦ reddit.com/r/science
◦ Bing News
◦ Yahoo News
◦ News.google.com
◦ Popsci.com
◦ Etc.

7. EXPOSURE YOURSELF SOME
MORE
 More specific resources to explore for
topics:
◦ Nature
◦ UC Berkeley SPH News Letter
◦ MCB News Letter
◦ School of Optometry
◦ UCSF News Center
◦ PubMed
◦ Etc.

8. If you have a specific interest
 Ask yourself what kind of topics are
you interested in.
◦ Genetic mutations?
◦ Mechanical organs?
◦ Shots/injections
◦ Parasites?
 SEARCH ENGINES AND BOOLEAN
OPERATORS ARE YOUR FRIEND.

9. Boolean Operators
 “AND”
◦ Finds your first and second terms together
◦ Harder to use with phrases
 “OR”
◦ *sometimes helpful*
◦ Use it when a key term/word may appear in 2
different ways (like acronyms & colloquial)
 “NEAR”
◦ Finds where both words appear near each other,
within a few words.
 “NOT”
◦ Finds references for one term but not the other
◦ Helpful when a term is used for many things
(opposite problem of OR)

10. What do we mean by
“Primary?”
 Basically, we want you to find the
paper(s) written by those who did the
research or experiment you want to
write on.
 This includes:
◦ Research facilities/orgs.
◦ Labs
◦ Hospitals
◦ UC Berkeley professors and labs on
campus!!

11. Characteristics of a Primary
Source
 Report original research, ideas, or scientific
discoveries for the first time
 Report results/findings/data from experiments
or research studies
 May also be referred to as primary research,
primary articles, or research studies
 Are frequently found in peer-reviewed or
scholarly journals
 Should explain the research methodology
used (randomized controlled trial, etc)
 Frequently include methods, results, and
discussion sections

12. What is a “strong topic?”
 Staying away from clichés like cancer
research, effects of color on memory,
drug addiction, etc.
 Something BRAND NEW, published
within the 1-2 years.
 You could find that very little research is
available on your subject. As much as
you may like your topic, you may want to
give it up at the start if you know you’re
going to run into trouble finding more info
for your paper.

13. What kind of other information
are you looking for?
 Your article will require more than just
primary sources to help you write.
 Do you need:
◦ History
◦ Facts
◦ Opinions
◦ News reports
 Other resources other than primary
CAN be used.

14. Where would be a likely place to
look?
 The Internet
 Academic Periodicals
 Newspapers
 Company websites (if commercial)
 OskiCat, the UCB Library Catalog
 Do you need to represent both sides of a
story? (to be continued next week with
4QDs).
How much info do you need?

15. Homework
 Bring in 3 topics for your primary
(main) article
 Bring in 3 topics for your secondary
(shorter) article