BI 125 Library Guide  

In the library assignment, you are asked to:

1. define or describe a topic
2. identify key words to search by. 
3. find a review article
4. find a popular article
5. & 6. find primary research articles in PubMed
7. see if a PubMed journal is available at BSC
8. find primary research articles in other databases
9. find official abbreviations for several scientific journals
10. conduct an author search

The citation format used in science articles is important - please remember that all of your citations should be in the format used in your lab manual.

The following resources may help you complete the assignment.   

1. Select and research a topic, and 2. find key words 

Science reference books are in the Q’s, especially Q1 - Q125. For example: 
McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of science and technology. Ref Q121 .M3 1997 
Van Nostrand's Encyclopedia. Ref. Q121 .V3 1995  

Biochemical dictionaries are in the QD's, QH's and QP's - for example: 
Concise encyclopedia biochemistry and molecular biology. Ref. QD415 .A25 B713 1997 
Encyclopedia of molecular biology. Ref. QH506 .E53 1994 
Oxford dictionary of biochemistry and molecular biology. Ref QP512 .O94 1997 
Glossary of biochemistry and molecular biology. Ref. QP512 .G55 1997 

Medical reference books are in the R’s, especially R1 - R135. For example: 
Webster's new explorer medical dictionary. Ref. R121 .W358 1999 
Stedman's medical dictionary Ref R 121 .S8 1995 
Black's medical dictionary. Ref. R121 .B598 1987 
American Medical Association encyclopedia of medicine. Ref. RC81 .A2 A52 1989 
The Merck manual of medical information. Ref. RC81 .M55 1997.  

Online reference sources include: 
AccessScience - the online McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science & Technology:
http://www.accessscience.com/server-java/Arknoid/science/AS  
MedLine Plus - links to online dictionaries (common terms): 
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus  
Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy http://www.merck.com/pubs/mmanual  
BioTech's life science dictionary: http://biotech.icmb.utexas.edu/search/dict-search.html  

The MESH Browser (available in PubMed, under "PubMed services") is extremely useful for identifying the terms that are used in PubMed. MESH stands for MEdical Subject Headings - the official vocabulary used for indexing articles, for cataloging books and other holdings, and for searching the National Library of Medicine's databases.   

3. Find a review article on your topic 
Review articles

• synthesize large amounts of information available on a research topic
• provide extensive bibliographies, to lead readers to pertinent articles
• may appear in "Annual Review" volumes or in "regular" journals 

Review articles may be found in the Annual Reviews of Biomedical Sciences, available online at http://arjournals.annualreviews.org/biomedicalhome.dtl . The Library subscribes to several of these Annual Reviews (Biochemistry, Cell and Developmental Biology, Genetics, Immunology, Microbiology, Pharmacology and Toxicology, and Physiology), enabling you to view not just citations & abstracts, but the full text of review articles online (you can also check the print volumes out from the Library). 

PubMed also indexes many review articles. PubMed is available on the Library's Indexes & Databases page. Put your key word(s) in the search box and select "Limits;" limit to Publication Type = Review.   

4. Find a popular article
Popular articles

• are written for the lay person
• usually have only one or two authors, or they may have no author’s name listed
• appear in magazines such as Discover, Science News, and Newsweek

Popular articles are indexed in several of the databases available from the Library's Indexes & Databases page. These include General Science Full Text, Ebscohost's Academic Search Elite, Infotrac's Expanded Academic ASAP, and other "general" indexes. These databases support simple keyword searches, as well as advanced searches that allow you to limit by journal title, date, etc.   

5. & 6. Find a primary research article in PubMed (1966-present)
Primary articles

• describe exactly how the research was done and what the results were
• are written for other scientists
• frequently have multiple authors
• are published in publications with titles like Journal of… or Cell

PubMed, which is accessible from the Library's Indexes & Databases page, is a powerful database produced by the National Library of Medicine. It indexes articles from over 3000 journals, from 1966 to the present.

You can perform a "simple search" by putting keywords in the search box. You can also do an advanced search.  Click on "Limits" to

• limit to Author Name, MeSH Terms, etc.
• limit to review articles: in Publication Types field, enter Review
• limit by date: In Publication Date field, enter YYYY/MM/DD - YYYY/MM/DD

Find related articles by selecting the Related Articles option from upper right-hand corner of citations.

7. Is the article available at the BSC library?
To see if an article is available full-text in a database, or if it's available in print or microfilm format in the Library, please consult Periodicals @ BSC (on the Library home page's left bar). This is a list of magazines, journals and newspapers available full-text (via one of the BSC library's electronic databases) or in the BSC library (in print or microfilm).  If a periodical is not available at BSC, the WorldCat catalog will alert you to the library that owns the title. Worldcat can also be found under the Library's Indexes and Databases page. 

8. Use other databases to find research articles.
All of the following databases are available on the Library's Indexes & Databases page.

BasicBiosis - includes records from 350 core life sciences journals (1994 - present). This database requires a password for access; we will give that to you in class. 
Using Advanced Search, you can

• Limit to review articles: search for Literature review in Record type phrase (keyword)
• Limit by date: In Year field, enter a year (YYYY)
• Use Hyperlinks - Hyperlink to other articles by the same authors, but…use caution in hyperlinking to subjects (they are very broad!

Wiley Interscience - indexes over 300 peer-reviewed journals, and offers full text for those journals. Subject areas include chemistry, life and medical sciences, physics, and psychology. You can

• Search by author, title, or keyword
• Limit your search by date
• View your results by relevance or date

InfoTrac
Search Expanded Academic ASAP (1980-) or the Health Reference Center - Academic (1995-present)

• Limit to refereed publications to retrieve primary sources
• Limit by date: in Date field, enter a specific year or use a range (e.g. 1998-2000)
• Use Advanced Search mode to search for articles by a particular author
• While viewing full record, use hyperlinks to find articles on same subject

EBSCOhost
Choose Academic Search Elite, MasterFILE Premier, Clinical Reference Systems, Health Source Plus

• Select Guided Search to use limits
• Check Peer reviewed or Full-text boxes as desired
• Limit Publication Type to Periodical, if desired.
• While viewing full record, use hyperlinks to find articles on same subject

9. Find official abbreviations
Perhaps the best place to find journal abbreviations is in the PubMed Journal Browser (available under PubMed Services) or its print version, the Index Medicus List of Journals Indexed.

10. Do an author search
As for your author search - all the databases mentioned support author searches. Which do you think is most likely to index your professor's work??