Research Guides: Biology: Books and Articles

FINDING BOOKS

Search for in

Can't find what you are looking for? Give interlibrary loan at try! Basically if you want something (articles, books, DVDs) we will borrow that item from another institution for you. It's that easy.

KEY DATABASES

ScienceDirect College Editions This link opens in a new window
Search full text articles for over 1900 titles in the Health & Life Sciences, Physical Sciences and Social & Behavioral Sciences collections from 1995 to present. Our library has also purchased a small selection of ebook titles through ScienceDirect.
Opposing Viewpoints This link opens in a new window
Opposing Viewpoints In Context is the premier online resource covering today’s hottest social issues, from capital punishment to immigration, to marijuana. This cross-curricular research tool supports science, social studies, current events, and language arts classes. Its informed, differing views present each side of an issue and help students develop information literacy, critical thinking skills, and the confidence to draw their own valid conclusions. View tutorial:
PubMed This link opens in a new window
PubMed comprises more than 27 million citations for biomedical literature from MEDLINE, life science journals, and online books. Citations may include links to full-text content from PubMed Central and publisher web sites.

NOAA Central Library
Publications from both contemporary and historic offices and labs are included in this guide.
Finding Diverse Sources for Science Stories
Here, we compile detailed and specific resources and strategies that reporters can use to make that goal a reality, drawing on the wealth of information available from many U.S.-based organizations and scientists. Strategies for finding diverse sources can include drawing on publicly available scientist databases, social media accounts and hashtags, affinity organizations in STEM, sources, colleagues, public information officers, expert-referral services, and online discussion groups.
Finding Diverse Sources for Science Stories
Here, we compile detailed and specific resources and strategies that reporters can use to make that goal a reality, drawing on the wealth of information available from many U.S.-based organizations and scientists. Strategies for finding diverse sources can include drawing on publicly available scientist databases, social media accounts and hashtags, affinity organizations in STEM, sources, colleagues, public information officers, expert-referral services, and online discussion groups.

AGRICOLA This link opens in a new window
AGRICOLA is a catalog and index to the holdings of the National Agricultural Library (NAL), with links to many full text records on all aspects of agriculture and allied disciplines.

SEARCHING TIPS

Keywords are...

A good way to start a search.
The important concepts in your own words.
Found anywhere in the article (title, author, subject terms, etc.).
Very flexible.

Try Boolean Operators...

"Or" broadens your search results. (Citrus OR Oranges OR Lemons OR Tangerines OR Grapefruit)
"And" narrows your search results. (Rainfall AND Deforestation AND Brazil)
"Not" narrows your search results. (Wound healing NOT Plants) (Social media NOT Facebook)
"Not" can be used to weed out biased words or phrases associated with your topic. (immigrants NOT illegal aliens)
Combine operators for more complex searching. (Coastal sage scrub AND fire OR Postfire OR Postburn)

Truncation...

Broadens your search
Enter the root of a word and put the truncation symbol at the end.
The database will return results that include any ending of that root word. (teen* = teens, teenager, teenagers, teenaged. environment* = environments, environmental, environmentalist)

Wildcards...

Broadens your search.
Use if a word can be spelled several different ways but has the same meaning.
Wom*n = women, woman, col*r = color, colour

Limit to Peer-Reviewed, Refereed or Scholarly articles...

This is part of the publication & editorial process for academic and research journals. Being peer-reviewed is a sign that a paper's author(s) have done a certain level of due diligence in their work and their research is complete, manages conflicts-of-interest, and is fair and objective.

Narrow the Date Range...

When looking for Current Research or Evidence-Based Practices limit your date range to the last 3-5 years.

For some of us, it helps to break down our research components so that we can create more effective search strategies. I create this worksheet that might help you do that!

Brainstorming Your Topic Worksheet