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Subject Research guide
Dairy & Animal Science

Find Articles | Find Books | Animal Welfare | Genetics | Health | Reference | Evaluating | Citing | Internet

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Agricultural Sciences Librarian
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phone: 814-865-3706

Top 5 Resources

Books: The CAT
Journal Articles:
CAB Abstracts or PubMed (Medline)
Encyclopedia: Agropedia
Health: Merck Veterinary Manual

Related Guides

Poultry Science
Veterinary & Biomedical Sciences

Articles and Databases

Don't forget: Try These First if you want general popular interest magazines and newspapers or pro and con debate information.

Article Search Tips: Finding the best articles on your topic requires a number of steps:

  • Select a database from the list above.
  • Enter and combine terms appropriate to your topic
  • Look at the best references you retrieve and determine the subject terms used for those articles. Then revise your search using these new terms.
  • Write down or print off all pertinent information (called the 'citation') including the journal title, volume, date, and page numbers.
  • Explore other databases and subject terms (which vary between databases) for more information.

Get the full text: Once you find the citation in a database, try the button to see if Penn State has the electronic or print version of the article you need. If the electronic version is available, it will appear as the first link on the Get it! menu. If the article is not available electronically, click on The CAT link to automatically search our catalog and see if Penn State has a print copy. If no other copy is available, you can use the ILLiad link to request it from another library.

Already have a citation? Use Citation Linker to see if Penn State has it online or in print!

Find Books:

Use The CAT for finding books owned by Penn State.

CAT Search Tips: The CAT is the list of what is owned by Penn State Libraries. Go to the Browse function if you are looking for a specific title or author (type last name first). Go to the Keyword function and combine terms to search on a topic then use the subject headings from relevant books for additional search terms. Write down the call number and location for any book you want. For more detailed searching information go to the Quick Guide to the CAT.

Suggested CAT Search Terms: Try searching for specific animals (i.e. poultry or dairy cattle), diseases (i.e. marek's disease or encephalopathy) or concepts (i.e. reproduction or nutrition).

Call Numbers: At University Park, most materials in the life sciences are located on the 4th floor of Paterno Library. General call numbers and subject areas are:

  • QL - Zoology
  • QP - Physiology
  • QR - Microbiology
  • SF95-SF99 - Animal Nutrition
  • SF191-SF219 - Cattle
  • SF221-SF275 - Dairying and Dairy Products
  • SF277-SF359 - Horses
  • SF371-SF379 - Sheep
  • SF391-SF397 - Swine
  • SF481-SF507 - Poultry
  • SF600-SF998 - Veterinary Medicine

Books Elsewhere: WorldCat

Libraries Borrowing Policies: Once you have the books, check them out at the nearest lending desk or self check-out station. Loan periods are usually four weeks but books can be recalled for another user, so respond promptly to library notices. For more information see the University Libraries Lending Code.

Animal Welfare and Rights

  • Animal Welfare Information Center from the National Agricultural Library provides access to a wealth information in their online publications
  • Altweb -- Project of the Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing contains news about alternatives and animal research; an archive of important journals, books, and articles; links to related Web sites arond the world.
  • The Animal Agriculture Alliance serves as the national umbrella organization through which feed, animal health, livestock, poultry groups and others with a vested interest in animal agriculture develop and deliver consistent messages to consumers.
  • AnimalConcerns.org The online community for people concerned about the welfare and rights of animals. This site includes job listings, email discussion list information, news stories, a calendar of events, and basic animal rights information.
  • PETA On-Line. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals homepage has links to related animal and environmental resources.
  • Yahoo has a subject based list of pointers to animal rights, endangered species, and vegetarian web sites.

Genetics

Health (diseases and nutrition)

Other Reference Material

Agropedia a compilation of agriculture encyclopedias, including the Encyclopedia of Animal Sciences. Or try the online Access Science database.

Breeds of Livestock and Poultry Breeds from Oklahoma State University.

Black's Veterinary Dictionary. edited by Geoffrey P. West. London. A&C Black, 1995.

Glossary of terms in Dairy Science and Technology from the U of Guelph.

Veterinary Abbreviations & Acronyms from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

The American Society of Animal Science has information about their society, as does the American Dairy Science Association the Poultry Science Association the American Veterinary Medical Association and the Pennsylvania Veterinary Medical Association.

The Stockman's Handbook by M.E. Ensminger. Danville, IL., Interstate Publishers, 7th edition, 1992. This is an answer book for farmers/ranchers, teachers, counselors, students and people engaged in the field of animal agriculture.

Handbook of Animal Science edited by Paul A. Putnam. San Diego, CA. Academic Press. 1991. This is a reference book on breeds, consumption, genetics, heritability, populations, products, nutrition, physiological values, history, systems and vocabulary in the animal sciences.

The Agricultural Databases for Decision Support is a collection of full text extension material appropriate for producers. It includes access to the National Dairy Database, National Goat Database, National Pig Information Database, and the National Sheep Information Database. Some of these databases require a subscription fee. Click "InfoBases" and then choose the database of interest. Once at a database, click on the + (plus) signs in the left hand frame to access the documents.

Evaluating Resources for Content

To evaluate print sources and web sites, you should ask a series of questions concerning the source’s currency, authority, validity, intended audience and bias. See this How to Evaluate Information site for details.

Citing Your Sources

When using information from another source you must give credit to the original author or you are plagiarizing. You give credit by citing the source. Make sure your citation contains everything you would need to backtrack and find the information again. It is best to pick one citation style and be consistent. Check this Quick Guide to Citation Styles for details and format.

Plagiarism, whether you copy a paragraph from a book or cut and paste someone else's words from an e-mail, is a violation of Penn State's academic integrity policy. See this Statement on Plagiarism and Academic Dishonesty.

Internet Resources

You can look for animal science information on the Internet by using one of the 'guides' listed below, or by using an Internet Search Engine like Google. Usually the search engines are most appropriate when you have a narrow, specific information need. If you are just looking for information in a general topic area, a subject guide is most appropriate.

 


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Last Updated: October 30, 2007 2:06 PM