Poultry Science

Articles and Databases
Books
Genetics and Health
Reference Materials
Internet
Evaluating
Citing

Articles and Databases

Core Resources...

CAB Abstracts includes poultry science, as well all other agricultural subjects.
PubMed (Medline) for all aspects of biomedicine.
Biological Abstracts for all of biology. Especially strong in microbiology.

Of Related Interest...

Web of Science (cited references) search for new articles which cite an older article by using the "cited ref" search mode.
AGRICOLA covers a wide variety of agricultural information as well as other agricultural subjects.
Dissertations & Theses includes dissertations from most U.S. institutions.

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!

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 broilers), issues (i.e. marek's disease or shell quality) or concepts (i.e. immunology 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
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.

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Genetics and Health

U.S. Poultry Genome Project links to information, databases, and resources on poultry genetics.
Nutrient Requirements of Poultry
Consultant is a diagnostic support system for veterinary medicine from Cornell University. You can search by sign or diagnosis and limit retrieval to a specific species.
Merck Veterinary Manual is a classic handbook for veterinarians on the diagnosis and treatment of diseases in all animals. It is also available in in print.

Reference Materials

Encyclopedias:

Agropedia a compilation of agriculture encyclopedias, including the Encyclopedia of Animal Sciences.
Access Science is a general science encyclopedia.
Poultry Breeds from Oklahoma State University.

Dictionaries:

Black's Veterinary Dictionary. edited by Geoffrey P. West. London. A&C Black, 1995.
Veterinary Abbreviations & Acronyms from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Associations:

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Internet

If you are just looking for information in a general topic area, a subject guide is more appropriate than Google.

Penn State is maintaining a nice listing of links by:

Topics (Discipline and Species)
Poultry Educational Resource Links (includes companies, associations, equipment etc.)

Evaluating

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

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. See the journal Poultry Science Instructions for Authors. Or try this APA Quick Citiation Guide 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.

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