Biology

Articles and Databases
Books
Reference Materials
Internet Sites
Evaluating Information
Citing Sources

Articles and Databases

Core Resources

Biological Abstracts covers all aspects of biology, with emphasis on molecular biology, genetics and microbiology.
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 function.
PubMed is the premier source for aspects of human biology and medicine.

Also of interest

CAB ABSTRACTS is an international agriculture database that includes forestry, nutrition, world health and more.
Environmental Sciences and Pollution Management covers pollution, microbiology, ecology, other environmental topics.
Wildlife & Ecology Studies Worldwide covers ethology, wildlife management, reproductive biology and other aspects of zoology.
Agricola is mostly North American agricultural information.
Dissertations and Theses includes dissertations from most U.S. institutions.
PapersFirst is a database which indexes papers from conferences, symposia, workshops and meetings. To search for conferences themselves, use ProceedingsFirst, which can be accessed via PapersFirst.

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!

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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: Search for general terms like biology, ecology, natural history, or more specific terms like biological diversity, microbiology, molecular biology, biochemistry, zoology

Call Numbers: At University Park, most materials in the life sciences are located on the 4th floor of Paterno Library. Some biotechnology material is located on the 3rd floor of Paterno. General call numbers and subject areas are:

QH - Natural History and Genetics (UP location: 4th floor Paterno)
QL - Zoology (UP location: 4th floor Paterno)
QP - Physiology (UP location: 4th floor Paterno)
QR - Microbiology (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.

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Reference Materials

General Resources

Access Science - Online version of McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology
Encyclopedia of Genetics - Online version of 4-volume reference set
The Prokaryotes - Online version of comprehensive resource for bacteria and the Archaea
Gale Virtual Reference Library - Includes reference books such as Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition
NetLibrary - Electronic books, including some text-books

Biology Reference Materials

Life Sciences Dictionary is searchable dictionary maintained by BioTech,
Biological Glossary from the University of California Museum of Paleontology has sections on Zoology, Botany, Cell Biology, Biochemistry, and others, but is not searchable.
Kimball's Biology Pages contains mini-essays and glossary terms derived from John W. Kimball's introductory textbook, Biology (6th ed., 1994).
Other biology textbooks can be found via Textbook Revolution
Terms of Environment is a searchable subject specific dictionary from the Environmental Protection Agency.
Glossaries and lists of references are available online, such as Nomenclature Terms in Zoology, Aquatic and Wetland Plant Glossary, Glossary of Botanical Terms, or this listing of Glossaries of Genome/Human Genetics Terms.
Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) compiles information on information pathways of interacting molecules or genes.
Environmental Contaminants Encyclopedia from the National Park Service.
University of Arizona's Biology Project is an interactive online resource for learning biology.

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Internet Sites

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 biology information on the Internet by using a specialized Search Engine such as:

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

Other Resources

Cell and Molecular Biology Online has lists of recommended sites, job resources, cool biology sites, links to current research, grant information and more. It is constantly updated.
ExPASy Life Science Directory is a list of pointers to information sources for life scientists with an interest in biological macromolecules.
World Wide Web Virtual Library: BioSciences gives links to sites for different aspect of biology. Sites maye contain research, publications and employment opportunities.
Yahoo:Science:Biology is a list of potentially useful sites. The sites have been classified into broad categories.

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Evaluating Information

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.

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Citing Sources

When using information from another source you must give credit to the original author by citing the source. See this guide to citation styles for more details.

See this Statement on Plagiarism and Academic Dishonesty. 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.

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For a more details, try this step by step guide to finding biology information.

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