Biology Research Guide, General

Finding Articles and Citations

BROWSE CURRENT ARTICLES: These are lists of newly added articles from a few of our subscription databases and from popular science magazines. These shouldn't replace a directed search on your specific topic, but offer a way to stay up-to-date on theories and research in your field, and could be used as a way to come up with a topic for your research.

• Full-Text Articles from Peer-Reviewed Journals - Compiled from database searches of the Subject keyword "Biology".
• Full-Text Articles from Popular Science Magazines Online - Compiled from RSS feeds of respected popular science magazines.

SELECTED RESEARCH DATABASES

• BioOne - A unique collection of full-text articles produced by societies and non-commercial publishers, including 86 high-impact bioscience research journals from 63 publishers. (journal title list)
• BioMed Central - Publisher of 189 peer-reviewed open access journals, providing free and immediate access to recent biomedical research findings, all available in full-text. (journal title list)
• PubMed - A Web interface provided by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to access their MEDLINE database which contains over 16 million references to journal articles in life sciences with a concentration on biomedicine. Citations are indexed using the specialized Medical Subject Headings (MeSH).
• Highwire Press - Portal to online versions of high-impact (more than 70 of the 200 most-frequently-cited journals in science are hosted), peer-reviewed science journals provided by the Standford University Library. Some full-text is available. (journal title list)
• ScienceDirect - Claims to contain 25% of the world's science, technology, and medicine citations. We have access to citations and abstracts, but not full-text. (active journal title list)
• AGRICOLA - Database of citations for books, journal articles, and other resources covering agriculture and allied fields found in the National Agriculture Library (NAL), including some links to full-text.
• Directory of Open Access Journals - A site that collects free open access journals from a number of sources. Browse journals in the biology and life sciences subject area, or search for articles with keywords.
• JSTOR - Provides access to less current, but more historical information. Search for articles or browse titles by discipline: Biology.
• Academic Search Premier - This scholarly collection offers information in nearly every area of academic study including: computer sciences, engineering, physics, chemistry, language and linguistics, arts & literature, medical sciences, ethnic studies, and many more. (journal title list)
• Also try the other databases listed on the Science/Math Databases page

 ACADEMIC PRINT JOURNALS (Current issue and previous 3 years are located in the library on shelving across from the reference desk in the Concordia Library)

•  Bioscience |   Ecology |  Environment |   JAMA |  Human Biology |  Nature |  Science

 OTHER TOOLS

• Journal Finder/Article Linker -Use this tool to find the full text when you only have a citation or to browse for journal titles that may be in your subject area:
  Journal Finder/Article Linker

  Title begins with Title equals Title contains all words ISSN equals
  
  
• BearHunt - Use this tool to search multiple databases and CLICnet at one time to find books, journal articles, government documents, and other resources:
  Search multiple science/math databases simultaneously (BearHunt)
  
  
• Google Scholar - Google provides a search interface for schlarly information. After searching, look for "Full-Text @ Concordia" next to the article title. Results are often sloppy, redundant, or lead to dead ends.

Finding Books 

CATALOGS

• CLICnet : Joint catalog which spans the collections of the libraries at Concordia, Augsburg, Bethel, St. Cate's, Hamline, Macalester, Northwestern, and St. Thomas. 
  • Search CLICnet by Keyword, Author, Title, or Standard Number (ISBN or ISSN):
    Search for books (CLICnet)
    

    Keyword Author Title ISBN/ISSN
  • or browse CLICnet by subject: Biology, Anatomy & Physiology, Cell Biology, Ecology, Genetics, Immunology, Microbiology
• Worldcat.org : Catalog of over 1 billion items in libraries across the world. If the title you want is not available via CLICnet, request via the proper Interlibrary Loan Form.
• DeweyBrowser - Locate the Dewey Decimal System call number of the general area to browse at the library with this tool.

 REFERENCE BOOKS (located on shelves across from the Reference desk in the Concordia Library)

• List of Selected Reference Sources on Biolog available at the CSP Library 

 E-BOOK COLLECTIONS

• Bookshelf
• NetLibrary 
• Gale Virtual Reference Library 

 Supplementary Web Resources: Selected Websites by Subject Area

• Annual Reviews - Offers research articles and critical reviews of research literature in many fields, including many subfields of Biology and the Physical Sciences. Some full-text available.
• PLoS (Public Library of Science) - The Public Library of Science (PLoS) is a nonprofit organization of scientists and physicians committed to making the world's scientific and medical literature a public resource.
• genomics.energy.gov - Site hosted by the Department of Energy which includes information and facts about their genetics-based projects, including the Human Genome Project and the Microbial Genome Project.
• PLANTS National Database - Provides standardized information about the vascular plants, mosses, liverworts, hornworts, and lichens of the U.S. and its territories. It includes names, plant symbols, checklists, distributional data, species abstracts, characteristics, images, plant links, references, crop information, and automated tools, onward Web links, and references.
• MedlinePlus - MedlinePlus will direct you to information to help answer health questions. Preformulated MEDLINE searches are included in MedlinePlus and give easy access to medical journal articles. MedlinePlus also has extensive information about drugs, an illustrated medical encyclopedia, interactive patient tutorials, and latest health news.
• National Sea Grant Library - Includes searchable database of marine resources.

 Other Resources

POPULAR PRINT JOURNALS: These titles are probably innappropriate to use as sources for your assignments, but are still good reading for those interested in current developments in Biology and the Life Sciences. (Current issue and previous 3 years are located in the library on shelving across from the reference desk)

• Discover | E: The Environental Magazine | Geotimes | Nature | National Wildlife | Natural History | Science News | Scientific American | Wilderness