Biology | MacOdrum Library

Key Resources

A searchable, multidisciplinary database of citations with content dating back to 1900.

The major database of biomedical literature with over 26 million citations.

A searchable, multidisciplinary database with content dating back to 1970s.

A multidisciplinary search tool for scholarly literature.

Where to find Journal Articles

Library Search
- The library search engine, filters available for peer-reviewed journal articles.
Web of Science
- A large multidisciplinary database useful for finding scientific literature and analyzing citations.
- Can search Web of Science Core Collection or All Databases which includes Medline (PubMed) among others.
Scopus
- A large multidisciplinary database useful for finding scientific literature and analyzing citations.
PubMed
- A database from the US National Center for Biotechnology Information covering health and biomedical research.
Google Scholar
- A broad search for academic sources, which can include free sources not available in other databases.
Bioline International
- Biosciences journals published in developing countries
BioOne
- Journals published by small societies and non-commercial publishers
JOVE
- Peer-reviewed video articles documenting techniques and protocols in biological sciences
TAIR
- Database of genetic and molecular biology data for the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana

This is not a complete list

Where to find Books

Omni is the library search engine.
It searches most of the journal articles, books, ebooks, journal titles, games, music, videos, government information, and maps in the library.
You can limit your search results to books by selecting Books/eBooks from the left hand menu.

Search Tips

Choose nouns as search terms rather than verbs.
Avoid using a whole sentence, instead select the main ideas from your research question
- For the research question What is the impact of hydroelectricity on rivers?
- Search for hydroelectricity and river

Some databases have a list of terms used to index articles in a consistent manner. These terms can be used to search for relevant material.
This list may be referred to as:
- Thesaurus
- Subject Headings
- Taxonomy

Use synonyms to search for an item/phenomenon.
- For example: climate change can be synonymus with global warming

Quotation marks ("") - use to search for a phrase.
- For example: "climate change"
Asterix (*) - use to find words with the same root.
- For example: fish* will find fish, fishes, fishing, etc.
AND and OR
- use AND to combine search terms, both of which you want to find in an article.
- use OR to combine synonyms, either of which you want to find in an article. Use brackets to group the synonyms.
  - For example: ("climate change" OR "global warming")

As you read through a list of search results, take note of any new terms that are relevant to your topic. Search using these new terms.

Web of Science and Scopus can be used to track citations
- References - look at the references a relevant article used (looking backward)
- Citing - look at the articles that cite relevant articles (looking forward)

Use a recent review article to get an overview of a topic and use the bibliography to find relevant research.

Free Science Illustrations

Writing and Citing