Goals for this session:
To get you to use a biological context to explore some of the resources available through NCBI.
- Access (search and navigate) linked data resources from multiple entry points (pubmed, books, taxonomy, genbank, omim, etc.).
- Export data to use in other contexts (genbank record, citation)
- Create customized searches and alerts that can persist
- Learn some biology along the way
Here are links to some of the resources we will be using during the NCBI Activity Session.
NCBI – http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
Connotea – http://www.connotea.org/
Instructions for saving a Pub Med Search – http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bookshelf/br.fcgi?book=helppubmed&part=pubmedhelp#pubmedhelp.Saving_your_search__
Project:
In groups – pick an area that you are interested in, have experience with, need to be more familiar with and “surf” the various linked NCBI databases.
As you look around do the following –
- sign up for a NCBI account
- sign up for a Connotea account
- save several citations from papers into Connotea
- save a search strategy and set up an NCBI alert
Write up a blog post that includes –
- A brief introduction to the biological topic you were investigating
- A link to a bibliographic reference that you used
- Information about a book section that would help others with background
- Describe the search strategy you saved and the alert you built
- Share 2 things (tricks, resources) you learned in the process that others might learn from
- Share 2 questions or problems that you are still trying to figure out