Biology: Home
Welcome!
This guide contains information about different resources and tools the Library provides for biology and microbiology students, faculty, and staff. Whether you are an experienced researcher or are new to the field, this guide should have useful information. The side navigation (top navigation if you're using a mobile device) will allow you to access different pages that cover additional resources and skills in more depth.
Best Bets
These databases are the best bets for finding information for your classes. If you can't find what you're looking for, don't hesitate to ask me for help.
- BIOSIS Previews This link opens in a new windowAlso known as Biological Abstracts, this index gives the most comprehensive coverage of literature in the life sciences, including journal articles, meeting abstracts, and books. Covers basic and applied biology broadly, e.g. agriculture, biochemistry, ecology, medicine, neuroscience, and physiology. Our coverage includes 1969-present.
- PubMed This link opens in a new windowBased on the MEDLINE literature index, the PubMed web site is a freely-accessible database provided by the National Library of Medicine. It connects to about 30 other genetics and biomedical databases in the larger NCBI system. PubMed's coverage extends from 1950-present.
- Web of Science (Core Collection) This link opens in a new windowThis is an interdisciplinary database, best-known in the natural sciences. Web of Science's key feature is citation tracking, which allows the user to look up a given article and find additional related papers which have cited it. Our coverage for the Core Collection includes 1900-present.
Video tutorials
We have tutorials on a number of topics on YouTube. Here are some of the playlists that may be of interest to you.
- How to SearchSeveral videos on identifying keywords and using database search techniques.
- STEM Resource TutorialsVideo tutorials for several of the major STEM databases for finding journal articles. Includes Web of Science and PubMed.
- Library BasicsVideo tutorials on a variety of topics related to getting started with using the library. Includes info on finding full-text, finding books and ebooks, and requesting things we don't have access to.
Researching a New Topic
New to the library? Have an assignment for a paper or presentation that requires science literature research, and you're not sure how to start? Here are some tips to the types of resources the Libraries hold, and when to use them.
Getting the Basics
If you are completely new to a topic, some Reference sources and text Books may be helpful to learn terminology, get an overview of a field, or even to get ideas for what to write about. Likewise, you might want to search for review Articles published in scientific journals or in popular scientific magazines.
Digging Deeper
Once you have a better handle on the topic you are writing about, you may need to turn to the primary scientific literature to find sufficient detail to fulfill your assignment. Professional science literature consists mostly of Articles in scientific journals (and occasionally Books).
Writing and Citing Sources
While doing literature research and writing, it is critical that you keep track of the sources you use and Cite them properly in your final product.
