Week Four- More Background Research

1. Electronic Reference:

I chose the Britannica Online source to find an electronic source for my topic. I searched under journals/periodicals and found an entry that read “Microbe Mining.”

This source shed some light into the use of microbes, specifically the endophytes, as a means of harnessing useful natural products for medicinal, agricultural, and industrial purposes.

Some of the subtopics that came up in this source are how specific microbes are responsible for producing hydrocarbons, including the major compounds in diesel fuel. Other subtopics include a genetic link between specific bacteria and their hosts, indicating an important evolutionary that has still yet to be explained.

One possible question that I came up while using Britannica Online is: how are scientists transforming microbes to produce complex organic compounds useful in medicine?

Terms:

distinctive- microbe engineering

broad- biotechnology

narrow- therapeutic synthesis

related- synthetic chemistry

2. Book- Search It

Book: Modern multidisciplinary applied microbiology: exploiting microbes and their interactions

Subject headings:

The subject listed is microbiology—congresses. In the description below it lists article headings such as:

-Heavy metal effects on Extremophiles and on enzyme biosynthesis in a new Bacillus strain

-Application of fungi in vitro biofertilizers

-Enhanced biodegradation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons using soil slurries

Based on the description, this book seems to provide multiple case studies, research experiments and summaries on a wide range of applications using microbes and bacteria.

This book is currently available at Owen Science and Engineering Library Stacks, so a request must be put in to have it be sent to WSUV. The “request item” link should be clicked WSUV library. The book should take 3-6 business days to come to the circulation desk in the library.

3. eBook – Search It

eBook title: Pharmaceutical Microbiology

ASAP evaluation:

Age- the eBook was published in March 2008, so it is still relatively new and applicable to my topic.

Sources- each chapter has foot notes and references, along with “further reading references” at the end of the chapter.

Author- Ashutosh Kar, professor and head of pharmacy at SHRI RNS College of Pharmacy. The credentials of the author add authority to the eBook because it was written by someone well established and specialized in their field of research and studies.

Publisher- New Age International, is an academic publisher for educational text and reference material.

Overall, this eBook seems like a credible source to use for my topic.

Reflection:

This week taught me how to locate and gain valuable information from the WSUV library page. Up until this point, I have never considered using a book or an eBook for my background research on my topic. But now that I have looked through some and found subtopics that seem interesting I will most likely give it a try in the future. It is nice to know how to access a variety of background information sites so that appropriate and relevant research can be done effectively. I also feel more prepared on how to order or request a book if it not available at WSUV. My first year here I took history 105 and for my final paper I had issues ordering an article that I found to be very useful for my paper, resulting in me not being able to sue that source. Now that I am more familiar on how to request items from Search It, I feel confident in my abilities to request a book in time for me to use it in my paper.