Research Guides: BIOL 4600: Senior Seminar: Finding Articles

Databases

Biological Science Database This link opens in a new window
Interdisciplinary database offering abstracts and citations to research in biochemistry, biomedicine, biotechnology, zoology and ecology and aspects of agriculture and veterinary science monitoring literature including conference proceedings, technical reports, monographs, patents, and other materials.
CINAHL Complete This link opens in a new window
Provides citations and full text articles primarily for nursing and allied health professionals. Coverage from 1937 to present.
PubMed This link opens in a new window
Contains millions of citations for biomedical and health literature from MEDLINE and other sources. To access full text from Atkins Library's journal collections in addition to full-text content from PubMed Central and open access publications, use the links provided on Atkins Library web pages.
ScienceDirect This link opens in a new window
Literature across all fields of science and social science. Comprehensive coverage of literature across all fields of science and social science. Provides access to more than 850 of Elsevier's primary research journals, which focus on scientific, medical, biomedical and technical areas.
SpringerLink This link opens in a new window
Journals, books, and book series in the sciences including: chemical sciences, computer science, engineering, environmental sciences, geosciences, life sciences, mathematics, medicine, physics from the publisher, Springer-Verlag.
Web of Science This link opens in a new window
This multidisciplinary database includes a citation mapping feature that allows you to track research across time, including almost 1.7 billion cited references allowing for comprehensive searches.

Researching an Assignment Topic

The scope of the literature search and type of information required will depend on the requirements of the assignment.

Books provide a useful starting point for an introduction to the subject. Books generally also provide an in-depth coverage of a topic.

Journal Articles: for current research or information on a very specific topic, journal articles may be the most useful, as they are published on a regular basis. It is normally expected that you will use some journal articles in your assignment.

Free Web Publications: useful information can also be found in free web publications from government or research organizations. Any web publications should be carefully evaluated. You are also required to view the whole publication, not just the abstract, if using the information in your assignment.

What is a Primary Source?

Primary sources are original materials, on which other research is based.

They are from the time period involved and have not been filtered through interpretation or evaluation.

Usually the first formal appearance of results in physical, print or electronic format, primary sources present original thinking, report a discovery, or share information.

(Definition from the University of Maryland Libraries webpage)

BIOL 4600: Senior Seminar

Databases

Researching an Assignment Topic

Books provide a useful starting point for an introduction to the subject. Books generally also provide an in-depth coverage of a topic.

Journal Articles: for current research or information on a very specific topic, journal articles may be the most useful, as they are published on a regular basis. It is normally expected that you will use some journal articles in your assignment.

What is a Primary Source?

Using the Biological Literature - Hard Copy