It is important to have some general knowledge of your topic before delving further into your research! It will help you select a topic and provide a context for doing more specific or refined searching.
There are many sources of background information, some of which are below.
Throughout the course, you can return to these resources as you encounter technical terms or need to learn about facets of your topic.
Popular articles and scholarly review articles in their own way can provide you with background information; see the pages of this guide about them.
Reference resources can provide encyclopedia or other general background about concepts or methods, as well as definitions of concepts. Some are listed below.
PRECISION SEARCHING OF THE OPEN WEB
To do a "precision" search in Google, search on google advanced search. This brings up the Google Advanced Search.
USING WIKIPEDIA
Wikipedia can be a valuable source of background information and a stepping stone to discovering academic resources. *Often wikipedia has useful links listed at the bottom of an article.*
You will of course have to confirm independently information you find in Wikipedia.
Here is a detailed guide about Wikipedia. For information about the reliability of Wikipedia, see this Wikipedia article.
EVALUATING WEB RESOURCES
See the criteria for evaluating web resources below.
Books can be a great source of background information.
You can look up books, whether print or electronic, in ASA, Lehigh's online catalog. See the search box.
Example of an electronic book that comes of: The brain and behavior: an introduction to behavior neuroantomy.
Scroll down to see link to the ebook.
Not finding a book at Lehigh? Try searching one of the two flavors of WorldCat available here.
Need to request a copy of a book that's not available at Lehigh? Use Palci in Interlibrary Loan to have books sent here. You will get an email when your book is ready for pickup. (Use
Allen Brain Atlas
The Allen Brain Atlas as a Resource for Teaching Undergraduate Neuroscience Terri L. Gilbert J Undergrad Neurosci Educ. 2018 Summer; 16(3): A261–A267. Published online 2018 Sep 15.
Voxel-Man 3D-Navigator: Brain and Skull Regional, Functional and Radiological Anatomy
"Availability CC BY-NC-NDVoxel-Man 3D-Navigator: Brain and Skull was originally published in 1998 by Springer-Verlag (as Voxel-Man Junior: Brain and Skull), with updated versions published in 2001 and 2009, respectively. Since 2018 it is available under a Creative Commons license."
"Download VOXEL-MAN 3D-Navigator "The interactive anatomy atlases VOXEL-MAN 3D-Navigator: Brain and Skull, Inner Organs and Upper Limb for Windows PCs have been published under a Creative Commons “Attribution – Non Commercial – No Derivatives 4.0 International” License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). They can be downloaded free of charge from this page."
https://www.voxel-man.com/3d-navigator/downloads/