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squareRESEARCH GUIDE: BIOLOGY

This is a guide to the major print and online bibliographic resources in biology. While basic resources are included, there are many others that cannot be covered here because of length. For assistance in using these resources, or to find additional information, contact a Reference Librarian.

Reference Sources | Books | Journal Articles | Review Articles
Dissertations, Conference Papers & Proceedings | Selected Internet Sites

1. Reference Sources

1.1 General

  • Encyclopedia of Biodiversity -- Reference QH541.15.B56E53 2001
  • Encyclopedia of Bioethics -- Reference QH332.E52 1995
  • Encyclopedia of Entomology -- Reference QL462.3.E47 2004
  • Encyclopedia of Evolution -- Reference QH360.2.O83 2002
  • Encyclopedia of Genetics -- Reference QH427.E54 2001
  • Encyclopedia of Human Biology -- Reference QP11.E53 1997
  • Encyclopedia of Microbiology -- Reference QR9.E53 2000
  • Frontiers of Life -- Reference QH302.5.F76 2002
  • Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia -- Reference QL3.G7813
  • Grzimek's Encyclopedia of Mammals -- Reference QL701.G7913 1989
  • Oxford Reference Online: Biological Sciences Full-text

1.2 Biography

  • American Men and Women of Science -- REFERENCE Q141.A47 2003
  • Biographical Dictionary of Women in Science -- REFERENCE Q141.B5285 2000
  • Dictionary of Scientific Biography -- REFERENCE Q141.D5 1981
  • Dictionary of Scientists (Oxford Reference Online) Full-text
  • Notable Twentieth-Century Scientists -- REFERENCE Q141.N3 1995

1.3 Style Guides

  • Council of Biology Editors (CBE). Research and Documentation Online: CBE Style
  • McMillan, Vicky. Writing Papers in the Biological Sciences -- REFERENCE QH304.M36 1997
  • Wolcott, Harry F. Writing Up Qualitative Research -- T11.W65 2001

2. Books

  • Centre Library Online Catalog
    • Find books, e-books, journal titles, electronic resources, and more in the Centre College library.
  • Kentucky Virtual Library
    • Find material in other Kentucky libraries, including the University of Kentucky and University of Louisville.
  • Worldcat
    • WorldCat contains records for the holdings of several thousand libraries. This is an excellent starting point for finding material beyond the Centre College library.
  • Interlibrary Loan
    • Use the Interlibrary Loan service to borrow books and journal articles from other libraries.

3. Journal Articles

3.1 Core Resources for Finding Articles

  • Academic Search Premier Partial
    • A multi-disciplinary index to periodicals that covers over 8,000 scholarly and popular periodicals, and includes full-text for more than 4,500 of these. Designed specifically for academic institutions, ASP spans most areas of study. Coverage varies, but most titles begin in the late 1980's and early 1990's.
  • Biological Sciences
    • Abstracts and citations from over 6000 sources in the fields of biomedicine, biotechnology, zoology, ecology, agriculture and veterinary medicine.
  • BioOne Full-text
    • A searchable collection of over 80 peer-reviewed journals in biology, ecology, and the environmental sciences published by the American Institute of Biological Sciences member societies and other closely related organizations. Covers 2000 to the present.
  • OmniFile Full Text Mega Partial
    • Collection of Wilson full-text databases, including Biological and Agricultural Index and General Science Full Text, two good resources for finding scholarly undergraduate-level journal articles. Indexing begins in 1982 and selected full-text in 1994.

3.2 Additional Resources for Finding Articles

  • Agricola
    • A bibliographic database of citations to the agricultural literature created by the National Agricultural Library. The records describe publications and resources encompassing all aspects of agriculture and allied disciplines. Coverage is from 1970 to the present.
  • Biology Digest
    • A compilation of abstracts and indexes of domestic and international literature in the area of life sciences. It is primarily intended for an audience at the high school or undergraduate college level. Covers 1989 to the present.
  • BioMed Central Full-text
    • Full-text archive of over 100 open-access life sciences journals.
  • BioOne (CSA)
    • This version of the BioOne database is an indexed and fully-searchable collection of abstracts that link to the full-text articles available from the BioOne organization.
  • Directory of Open Access Journals Full-text
    • Covers free, full-text, quality controlled scientific and scholarly journals covering all subjects and languages.
  • Highwire Press Full-text
    • HighWire Press at Stanford University develops and maintains the Web versions of important journals in biomedicine and other disciplines. A list of journals with free full-text articles online is available.
  • Index to American Botanical Literature
    • The Index contains entries dealing with various aspects of extant and fossil American plants and fungi, including systematics and floristics, morphology, and ecology, as well as economic botany and general botany. Coverage is from 1996 to the present.
  • JSTOR Full-text
    • Includes full-text back files of six scholarly journals in ecology. Note: coverage varies by title, but the most recent 2-5 years is not available.
  • Plant Science
    • A bibliographic database containing citations and abstracts from over 250 primary research journals covering all aspects of plant science, especially pathology, symbiosis, biochemistry, genetics, biotechnology, techniques and environmental biology. Covers 1994 to the present.
  • PrimateLit
    • Provides citations to the scientific literature on nonhuman primates. Publications include journal articles, books, abstracts, technical reports, dissertations and book chapters. Covers 1940 to the present.
  • Searchable Ornithological Research Archive (SORA)
    • Archive of open access electronic journals that provides access to an extensive ornithological literature of international scope, and detailed material documenting the history of ornithology in North America over the last 120 years.
  • Toxline
    • TOXLINE on this service offers rapid access to information in all areas of toxicology, including chemicals and pharmaceuticals, pesticides, environmental pollutants, and mutagens and teratogens. Coverage is a rolling 5 years.

3.3 Electronic Journals

4. Review Articles

Review articles provide an overview of a topic, highlighting the major work and providing many key references.

  • Annual Reviews Online Full-text
    • Contains critical reviews of significant primary literature. Published yearly, this is the online, full-text version of the printed Annual Review of ... series.

5. Dissertations, Conference Papers & Proceedings

  • Conference Papers Index
    • Provides citations to papers and poster sessions presented at major scientific meetings around the world. Subject emphasis since 1995 has been in the life sciences, environmental sciences and the aquatic sciences.
  • Dissertations Abstracts
    • Covers dissertations accepted at accredited U.S. institutions since 1861; selectively covers masters theses, Canadian dissertations, British, and other international dissertations.
  • PapersFirst
    • Provides access to individual papers presented at conferences worldwide.
  • ProceedingsFirst
    • Provides tables of contents of papers presented at conferences worldwide.

6. Selected Internet Sites

6.1 General

  • Entrez, the Life Sciences Search Engine
    • Entrez is the integrated, text-based search and retrieval system used at National Center for Biotechnology Information for the major databases, including PubMed, Nucleotide and Protein Sequences, Protein Structures, Complete Genomes, Taxonomy, and others.
  • Environmental Health Information Service (EHIS)
    • Produced by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, EHIS provides information about the environment, health, and toxicity, and includes reports, databases, and publications.
  • GreenFILE
    • GreenFILE indexes scholarly and general interest titles, as well as government documents and reports. Drawing on the connection between the environment and disciplines such as agriculture, education, law, health and technology, GreenFILE serves as an informative resource for anyone concerned about the issues facing our planet.
  • NatureServe Explorer
    • Nonprofit conservation organization NatureServe provides scientific resources on plants, animals and ecosystems in the U.S., Canada, Latin America and the Caribbean and focuses primarily on indigenous rare and endangered species.
  • ReefBase
    • Information on coral reefs containing data and information on the location, status, threats, monitoring, legislation, and management of coral reefs in 131 countries.
  • Science.gov
    • Gateway to authoritative selected science information provided by U.S. Government agencies including research and development results
  • Tree of Life

6.2 Botany

  • AlgaeBase
    • Suite of resources for the study of algae, with an emphasis on taxonomy and phytogeography. Also includes 1,600 images and links to other sources of images.
  • Flora of North America
    • Information on the names, taxonomic relationships, continent-wide distributions, and morphological characteristics of all plants native and naturalized found in North America north of Mexico. Click on the "FNA Online" link to search the database.
  • Kew Bibliographic Databases
    • Combined searching tool providing access to three bibliographic databases: Kew Record of Taxonomic Literature, Plant Micromorphological Bibliographic Database, and the Economic Botany Bibliographic Database.
  • Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Science
    • Provides access to 30 plant databases, including national floras, angiosperm, and bryological resources.
  • PLANTS Database
    • Standardized information about the vascular plants, mosses, liverworts, hornworts, and lichens of the United States and its territories.
  • Internet Directory for Botany
    • Comprehensive index site of botanical information.

6.3 Zoology

  • AmphibiaWeb
    • AmphibiaWeb offers ready access to amphibian biology and conservation information for recognized species of amphibian in the world.
  • Avibase - The World Bird Database
    • Avibase is an extensive database information system about all birds of the world, containing over 3.5 million records about 10,000 species and 22,000 subspecies of birds, including distribution information, taxonomy, synonyms in several languages and more. Hosted by Bird Studies Canada, the Canadian co-partner of Birdlife International.
  • Entomology Index of Internet Resources
    • A directory and search engine of insect-related resources on the Internet.
  • FishBase: A Global Information System on Fishes
    • Database containing information on thousands of species, over 70,000 synonyms, 25,000 pictures, and 20,000 references.
  • IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
    • The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species provides taxonomic, conservation status and distribution information on taxa that have been evaluated using the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria.
  • Primate Info Net
    • Resources for links and original content about nonhuman primates, including primate anatomy, physiology, ecology, and conservation.

Last updated April 3, 2008

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