Okay, so first and foremost, LEARN HOW TO USE A REFERENCE MANAGER. I use Refworks because my uni told me to, you can use whatever is available, your uni may subscribe to one, if not MENDELEY is FREEE AS A BIIRD! A ref manager means that your references will already be formatted and ready to add when you write your essay, plus if you suddenly URGENTLY need to change reference style, you can...easy peasy squeezy lemons.
Okay next, I always have trouble finding articles that I actually have access to, and constantly searching in google scholar, or whatever database you use, for hours on end is NOT WORKING its a WASTE OF TIME. Wikipedia is not a reliable source, but it is a good place to start. especially if you need to define something. search your topic in wiki and then click the link to their references for some info you want to use. Now, some references are more credible than others, so you can decide that the refrence is too bad to use, or read up on that topic if its an article or SUTIN (NMTBC refrence).
OTHER SOURCES:
New scientist website is great as each article is usually based on one or two research papers that you can go read, and if they aren't available to you (i.e. you don't have membership with their publisher) the key info is in the article, so you can use it in your essay and reference the original paper. You can use BMJ's website too, or Nature or whatever you need to get free info based on articles you an't access.
ALSO if you see am issue of a scientific magazine with a topic on the cover that YOU KNOW you'll have to write an essay on BUY IT. If that particular essay is never set, thass coool, you have just expanded your knowledge (you're welcome).
Of course TED (as I said before) is a great source, plus it's a nice way to ease into writing an essay. watching a TED talk doesn't feel too much like work and will probably make you want to write the essay a bit more. Plus, some of the TED talkers have written papers on what they are talking about, so there ya go, a new line of research (again, you're welcome)
OKAY so that's all I have for now....more to come once I get some essays back and write some more..
Good luck in all your endeavors
kim
