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University Library Home > University Park Course Guides  > Life Sciences

AN SC 201: Animal Science

 

Contact

Helen Smith
Title: Agricultural Sciences Librarian


Phone: 814-865-3706
Life Sciences Library

Helen Smith

Course Info

Course Name:
  AN SC 201: Animal Science
Semester:
  Spring
Campus:
  University Park (UP)
Instructor:
   Dale Olver

For more resources

check out the general

Dairy and Animal Sciences page

Scholarly articles

What does a Scientific Scholarly Article Look Like?

Title: a clear and succinct expression of the article's topic.

Authors: all of the authors should be listed, with their institutional affiliation. Scholarly articles are written by authors who have credentials and experience with the subject. 

Abstract: summary of the article.

Introduction: background information and a description of the author’s purpose.

Materials & Methods: how the study was performed with enough detail so that other scientists could repeat the study.

Results: data and findings.

Note:  IF the article is a "review" article (one that summarizes and synthesizes research on a specific subject) there will not be a "materials & methods" section or a "results" section, instead you will find a detailed analysis of other primary research articles.

Discussion and/or Conclusion:  what the findings mean and their implications; potential criticisms; avenues of future research.

References: a list of all the works used or referred to in the paper.

Journal information: On the first page of an article you will usually find the journal title, volume/issue numbers, if applicable, and page numbers of the article. Online articles may just include the journal title and a "DOI" (digital object identifier) number.

Peer-review information: dates of submission, review, and acceptance.

Check this Anatomy of a Scholarly Article tutorial from NCSU for a great visual overview of what a scholarly article will look like.

Article Comparison paper

Location of search refinement options in LionSearch

LionSearch is a fast way to access material at the Penn State University Libraries.

Reminder: You'll be looking for two articles that have something in common so that you can compare them but they will not be on exactly the same topic.  For example, one article might be on the effects of vitamin E on immune function in pigs, the second article might be on the effects of vitamin E on immune function in fish.

Identify the articles:

  1. Go to LionSearch
  2. Type a few specific words for your topic into the search box and press search.  Remember to be as specific as possible.
  3. In the Refine your Search section on the left and select just "Limit to articles from scholarly publications, including peer-review"
  4. Under the "Publication Date" section, drag the slider to include just the dates you need and then click the "update" button.
  5. Try different search terms if your first terms don't give you what you want.

Save the articles: 

  1. Click on the small folder icon to right side of the items you want to save. 
  2. Click on the "saved items" link at the bottom of the screen to see all the items you saved.  
  3. To copy the citations for adding to your paper, choose the "Chicago/Turabian: author-date"  format and select "print", then copy the citations into your clipboard.  This format creates citations closely correct for your project! CAVEAT: the formatting made by the computer will have mistakes - double check your final paper against the information provided for the Journal of Animal Science style (see page 9).
  4. To save the citations for later, choose the "Search Results Format" option and select "email" and enter your address. The email will contain links back to the information in LionSearch.  Don’t lose your work! Items are saved in LionSearch ONLY for your current session. You won’t be able to go back later and see a list of saved items unless you have emailed them to yourself.

Get the full text:

  1. Click the yellow "online" icon to go to the Penn State "GetIt" menu.
  2. At the pop up screen, click the word "article" next to the yellow "full text" icon. This will take you directly to the full text of the article.

If LionSearch doesn't work - use these indexes to locate two or more research articles on an animal science topic.

Get the full text

Once you find the citation, try the Penn State Get It Button 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 use the InterLibrary Loan link to request it from another library.

Legislative Letter

Legislative Constituent Letter:

Once again you can use LionSearch although you won't necessarily need to limit to scholarly publications or recent works.  You can limit to books or ebooks, and you can exclude newspaper articles if you need to.

The following databases are also very useful and their content is not covered by LionSearch

Issues Paper

Issues Paper:

Use any of the resources in the "research article" or "legislative letter" tabs for locating information for your issues paper should you choose to write the longer issues paper instead of the shorter writing assignments.

Remember you may have to narrow down the topic a little bit in order to find relevant information, especially when you are looking for a scientific peer-reviewed journal article.

Research Tips

Citing your sources

The objective in citing your sources is to lead the next person to the same information you found. Make sure your citation contains everything you would need to backtrack and find the information again. Use the specific style outlined in your assignment from the Journal of Animal Science (see page 9).

Selecting a Research Topic:
Pick a topic you enjoy! You want something that is broad enough that you can find information and yet narrow enough that you are not overwhelmed with sources.  These assignments allow you to express your individual thoughts and interests and help teach you to find credible information to back up your statements.

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.