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SSI1-169 Cancer in Context

Finding Media Coverage for a General Audience

If you're looking for for a general audience source about genetics, you can try browsing one of the publications listed below.  Note that some publications may have a limit on how much content may be accessed for free. 

  • The New York Times Science Section
    • Note- To avoid the10-article limit, UPS users must register and log in to NYTimes.com. Once you’ve registered for an account, which you do from within the campus network (i.e. on-campus), you may “log in” to that account from anywhere, anytime.  To register go to: http://accessnyt.com; Click "Create Account" and complete the registration fields (it is recommended that you use your @pugetsound.edu email address).
  • Nature News
  • Newsweek Tech & Science
  • Time
  • Scientific American
  • Wired

Searching can help you narrow in on a particular topic.  Try searching keywords (like 'genetics' or 'genetically modified') in any of the three popular press and news databases listed below to search for an article. Each has similar content but a different interface, so try them out and see which one you prefer. All of them allow you to filter your results by date, so that you can find only recent articles.

From News Story to Scholarly Article

Tracking a citation: Moving from popular to scholarly

Knowing how to find the original source from a news or magazine story is a key information skill. From the popular media story, figure out as much information as you can about the original scientific publication. Does it mention:

  • When the study was conducted?
  • Who the author or lead researcher was?
  • What journal the study was published in?

Then you have several options:

1) Search Google Scholar

2) Search in PubMed, and then use the "check for full text" buttons to see whether you have full access through Collins Library;

3) If you know the name of the journal that the article was published in, you can search Primo for the title of the journal (not the title of the article!!) and check that way to see if Collins has access to the journal that you're looking for.

Let's practice! 

Open this NY Times article: Gum Disease Tied to Colon Cancer Risk (Aug 12, 2020)

  • Can you find the published scholarly article that it references?
  • Are you able to access and read the full text of that article? 
  • If not, how would you go about finding it?