Subject Research guide
Zoology

Find Articles | Find Books | Reference | Evaluating | Citing | Internet

Contact

Janet Hughes
Biological Sciences Librarian
im: jah19ichiku
phone: 814-865-3705

Top Resources

Books: The CAT
Journal Articles:
Biological Abstracts
Encyclopedia: Access Science

Related Guides

Biology

Find Articles:

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

• Select a database from the list below.
• 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.

Databases To Use:

• Try These First if you want general popular interest magazines or pro and con debate information.
• Biological Abstracts covers all aspects of biology, with emphasis on molecular biology, genetics and microbiology.
• Wildlife & Ecology Studies Worldwide covers ethology, wildlife management, reproductive biology and other aspects of zoology.
• Aquatic Sciences & Fisheries Abstracts covers not just fishes, but fisheries.
• Environmental Sciences and Pollution Management has information on all aspects of biology and ecology, especially man's effect on the environment.
• CAB is an international agriculture database that includes forestry, nutrition, world health and more.
• Web of Science (cited references) can be searched as a multidisciplinary database or you can search for new articles which cite an older article by using the "cited ref" search mode.
• Agricola is mostly North American agricultural information.
• Dissertations & Theses includes dissertations from most U.S. institutions.

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.

Or go to The CAT to search the journal title in the Begins With (Browse) mode of the CAT. It will default to a TITLE search, or you can use the drop down on the right to search on Journal Titles. To find other relevant journals in The CAT, do a Begins With (Browse) search for Wildlife Conservation Periodicals with LC Subj Headings as the search type. You can also use LC Subject Headings such as Fishery Management Periodicals, or Ornithology Periodicals, or Bird Periodicals, or Mammals Periodicals, to find more journals in specific topics.

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

Find Articles:

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. Use the Begins With (Browse) function if you are looking for a specific title or author (type last name first). Use the default Keyword function to search on a topic then use the subject headings from relevant books for additional search terms. Use the Advanced Search to combine terms and do more precise searching and limits. 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: Search for general terms like natural history, zoology, mammals or more specific terms like white-tailed deer, endangered species, biological diversity.

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:

• QH - Natural History and Genetics (UP location: 4th floor Paterno)
• QL - Zoology, including ornithology (UP location: 4th floor Paterno)
• QP - Physiology (UP location: 4th floor Paterno)
• QR - Microbiology (UP location: 4th floor Paterno)
• SH - Aquaculture & Fisheries (UP location: 4th floor Paterno)
• SK - Hunting & Wildlife Management (UP location: 4th floor Paterno)

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.

Other Reference Resources

Access Science - Online version of McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology
Birds of North America is the online version, with sound and video, of the print reference set found at UP in Life Sciences Reference under QL681.B625
Gale Virtual Reference Library - Includes reference books such as Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition (also in print at UP in Life Sciences Reference QL3.G7813 2002)
NetLibrary - Electronic books, including some text-books

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. In the Biological Sciences, many prefer the Council of Science Editors style.

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

Certain articles databases, such as Environmental Sciences & Pollution Management, include pre-vetted web sites, usually from government sources or reputable organizations.

You can also look for Molecular Biology information on the Internet by using an Internet Search Engine. Usually the search engines are most appropriate when you have a narrow, specific information need. Certain specialized search engines are more appropriate to Biology than general search engines such as Google. These include:

Scirus - Search engine designed to find scientific information
Google Scholar - Subset of Google used to find scholarly information; set preferences to search for Penn State information
Infomine - Biological, Agricultural & Medical Sciences - Search engine for pre-vetted scholarly web sites