"
Here’s the only technique I’ve found that works, which I call scrobbling even though that means something totally different:"1. Search seed terms you know, like “cost of bugs”, in an appropriate journal (here’s one).
"2. Find papers that look kinda relevant, skim their abstracts and conclusions.
"3. Make a list of all the papers that either cite or are cited by these papers and repeat.
"4. Find more useful terms and repeat."
Congratulations! You're a grad student now!
P.S. When I graduated, I had a filing cabinet with two drawers full of papers that felt important enough to save printed copies, from just this process. A couple of months ago, I carted them out to the burn pile, threw them on the pile of leaves and brush, and held a Viking funeral. And I didn't even feel bad. :-)
"1. Search seed terms you know, like “cost of bugs”, in an appropriate journal (here’s one).
"2. Find papers that look kinda relevant, skim their abstracts and conclusions.
"3. Make a list of all the papers that either cite or are cited by these papers and repeat.
"4. Find more useful terms and repeat."
Congratulations! You're a grad student now!
P.S. When I graduated, I had a filing cabinet with two drawers full of papers that felt important enough to save printed copies, from just this process. A couple of months ago, I carted them out to the burn pile, threw them on the pile of leaves and brush, and held a Viking funeral. And I didn't even feel bad. :-)