A row of antique books line the dark wood shelves of Trinity College Dublin library, while white marble busts of famous men stand on pedestals beside each row. This section of The Insightful Scientist website shares links to materials and web resources that will let you dive deeper into the craft of scientific discovery.

Discovery Library

The Discovery Library section is dedicated to highlighting web and print resources that foster the practice of scientific discovery.

There are two main parts to the Discovery Library and a few things you can do on this page. Read on at the bottom of the page to find out more, or click on a link below to go to the section of the Library you are looking for.

Discovery Library Suggested Links

Discovery Library Bibliography Categories

What’s in the “Discovery Library Suggested Links” section?

The first part of the Library, “Discovery Library Suggested Links,” is a collection of web links to sites where you can read more about the craft of discovery and make discovery possible by accessing open source science data and tools. You can click on the link above to jump to this section.

What’s in the “Discovery Library Bibliography Lists” section?

The second part of the Library, “Discovery Library Bibliography Lists,” is an extensive collection of bibliographies, referencing items to read related to the craft of scientific discovery. You can click on the link above to jump to this section.

How do I find an item I saw before, but can’t remember where it was?

If you spotted an interesting resource on a previous visit to the website, but now can’t remember where you saw it, just use the search bar, at the top of the menus on the right hand side of this page (seen screen image below).

A screenshot of *The Insightful Scientist* website, showing how to enter the search term “arXiv” in the right hand menu to find an item in the *Discovery Library* pages.

If you enter the author name, or other reference information that you remember, you should be able to find the right page with the item’s full citation entry or web link.

A screenshot of *The Insightful Scientist* website showing the result for a search of the term “arXiv” across the site, using the search bar in the upper right hand page menu.

How do I recommend a good item that I don’t see listed in the “Discovery Library” pages?

As I have time, and when I can find Open Access or Open Source sites where you can get or view the material for yourself, I add links and entries to these pages. There is a lot of good material out there so this is a big job!

If you’d like to help out, you can always drop me a suggestion for an item to add to the Library by using one of the two forms at the bottom of this page. Please, only suggest links to sites or documents where you’ve managed to get legal access to material.

Screenshot of an example submission to the *Discovery Library* links category. (Yes, Borderlands 3 does actually have a citizen science game built in to it! Look for it in Tannis’ lab.)

Also, I’m always especially happy when the authors of one of the papers or books I have listed here send me a link to their home page where free copies of their articles are available on the web. I’d love to help share your work. And it’s even better if you also suggest a new piece of your work that hasn’t made it into the Discovery Library yet! (If you’d like to chat more about your work, or are looking to collaborate on a project, feel free to send me a note via the “Contact the Author” form, found under the “About” page).

Discovery Library Link Form

Suggest a Discovery Library link...

Link Short Description *

Tell me what the link you are recommending links to.

Author(s) *

Give the name of the author(s) associated with the link (such as the individual, webmaster, or company).

Where can I find this research? *

Provide a valid URL where I can check out the link you are recommending.

Choose a Library Topic Category for the Item *

Choose a topic from the dropdown list that best matches the primary focus of the item being suggested. Select "Other" if the category does not exist.

Link Long Description (1-3 sentences)

Tell me why you would like to see it added to the Discovery Library.

Comment

Discovery Library Citation Form

Suggest a Discovery Library bibliography item...

Research Title *

Give the title of the article, book, talk, blog post, etc., that you would like to see added to a Discovery Library bibliography list.

Research Author(s) *

Give the name of the author(s) associated with or listed on the work.