Birmingham-Southern College
Charles Andrew Rush Learning Center/N.E. Miles Library

 

 

BI 115 Organismal Biology
~ Library Research Tips ~

 

 

Start from the Library homepage at http://www.bsc.edu/bsclibrary

 

To find journal articles on your topic:

Use the following databases, which are specific to the biological sciences.   All are listed under Indexes & Databases.  Note:  BasicBIOSIS & GEOBASE are password-protected; see reference staff for password.

  • AGRICOLA (1970- ) includes material acquired by the National Agricultural Library
  • Biological Abstracts (Current year and most recent four update years ) covers 375 core life science journals
  • BioOne (2000 - ) includes full-texts of high-impact bioscience research journals. Sponsored in part by The American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS)
  • GEOBASE (1980- ) identifies research on geography, geology, and ecology
  • HighWire (1948- ) enables keyword searching of over 350 science journals (plus Medline)
  • JSTOR contains the full text of several scientific journals not indexed in BasicBIOSIS. (Note: JSTOR is not a current issues database. There is a gap, typically from 1 to 5 years, between the most recently published journal issue and the content available in JSTOR.)
  • PubMed is a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine that includes over 16 million citations from MEDLINE and other life science journals for biomedical articles back to the 1950s.
  • Wiley InterScience (1998- ) covers biological, earth, and other sciences - all full-text articles
  • General Science Full Text (1984- ) includes articles on a broad range of topics, mostly secondary literature; includes some primary research.

 

To see if a journal or magazine is available full-text, in print, or in microfilm at BSC:

Always check your journal title in Periodicals @ BSC, a comprehensive list of journals and magazines available in all formats.  Not all databases give information on what journals are available electronically to BSC.

§Current issues of journals are in alphabetical order on the Main Floor.

§Back issues are in alphabetical order on the Ground Floor, either bound or on microfilm (consult Periodicals @ BSC)

§Full text articles from many journals are available - see Periodicals @ BSC

 

To see if a local library has the journal you need:

Use WorldCat (under Indexes & Databases) or consult the library catalog of your choice under Other Libraries.  Many students find the Lister Hill and Mervyn Sterne Libraries at UAB useful.  BSC students can use their BSC ID to check out items there.  Note:  For non-UAB students, access to UAB indexes and databases is limited to on-campus use.

 

To find books on your topic:

§Use the Library Catalog to find books available in the BSC Library

§Use WorldCat (under Indexes & Databases) to find books available worldwide

 

To find definitions of scientific terms and concepts:

§Use AccessScience, the McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology Online

 

If the book or journal you need is not available locally:

Use Interlibrary Loan service (order forms are under Library Request Forms)

 

Websites

Material from websites is not acceptable for this class.  The exception:  journal articles.  Scholarly journals available electronically from a website may be used as sources.  Be sure to include the complete citation to the journal article.

                                                          

For help with citation style:

§Consult the Biology 115 Lab Manual for the “Guidelines for laboratory reports in the biological sciences.”

§The CBE (Council of Biology Editors) manual of Scientific Style and Format is a useful source of information on scientific style (Ready Ref. T11 .S386 1994)