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Home: BIO 490
Intro to Scientific Literature
Database Searching
Databases by Topic
Citation Indexing
Effective Oral Presentations
Scientific Papers
Parts of a Paper
Evaluate a Paper
Edit & Review a Paper
Style Guides &
Citation Formats
Ethics & Professionalism
Careers in
Biology
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BIO 490: Senior Seminar in Biological Sciences
Course Instructor: Blanche Haning
Librarian: Eleanor Smith
The
Scientific Literature:
Research and Presentation Methods for BIO 490
About this page: This page is designed to support your research and projects
in class. We hope you find it helpful. If you have suggestions for improving
the page, or find a dead link, please contact your librarian: Eleanor
Smith, or your professor. Even with all the resources available online, this page does not
substitute for coming to the library!
Introduction to the Scientific
Literature
The scientific literature is an integral part of the scientific research
process. Biologists consult the literature when writing grants and planning
experiments. They present their findings at conferences and publish them in
established scholarly journals. Thus, learning how to locate, read, and evaluate
the literature, especially journal articles, is an essential skill for scientists.
The scientific literature is often divided into two main categories, primary
and secondary literature. Each type is useful at different stages of the research
process.
Primary literature reports research findings directly. Journal articles
are a major type of primary literature. Other types of primary literature
include conference proceedings, technical reports, and theses and dissertations.
Secondary literature interprets, summarizes, or extracts information
from the primary literature. Types of secondary literature are listed below:
Review articles, textbooks and other books, and encyclopedias
usually provide a summary or overview of the primary literature on a specific
subject. These sources are very useful to provide background information
when beginning a new research area or reading an article in an unfamiliar
area.
Handbooksand manuals pull together specific pieces of
data and can be especially useful when a specific piece of information
or a method is needed when planning, performing, or evaluating experiments.
Databases and indexes usually include citations and abstracts
of the journal literature and help identify and provide access to literature
on a specific topic or by particular authors.
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Using Databases to Find Articles: Planning and Implementing
your Search
Searching 1: Getting Started
Planning your Search
Select a topic and identify the major concepts and ideas as well as appropriate
terms and synonyms for each concept or idea. This will help you build your
search in a database.
Selecting and Searching a Database
Databases are organized by subject area or discipline. Recommended databases
are described in the database section below. Biological
Abstracts is the major biology database and would be appropriate for
most every topic. Additional databases that are more subject specific (e.g.,
health, environment, etc.) are also included in the table.
Searching 2: Evaluating and Modifying your Search
Begin the search with keywords, look at the results, and select subject terms
or descriptors to make your search more specific. The table below includes
other helpful search tips.
Search Tips for Databases on the NCSU WWW site
Example: The effects, actual or potential, of climate change on biodiversity
Comments: This might be a very broad search. Also consider that different
terms than those given may be used. For example, climate change may also be
referred to as global warming. Biodiversity can also be described in other
terms, such as ecosystem diversity or species diversity.
| Begin
your Search |
To search by
keyword |
Type the words or phrases you wish to begin
your search and press [Enter]
climate change[Enter] |
Retrieves records with the phrase Climate
change |
| Searching
by author |
Authors
are indexed by last name and first (and often middle) initial. |
For example,
search for Charles Bright as Bright C, Bright C* or Bright* |
| Evaluate and Modify
your Search |
To truncate terms
(wildcard searching) |
Type the word you wish
to search followed by an asterisk (*)
pollut* [Enter]
Note: The truncation symbol varies
depending on the search software.
|
Retrieves records with
terms beginning with pollut such as pollute, pollution, polluting.
|
| AND narrows your search |
climate change AND
biodiversity
[Enter] |
Retrieves any record
that contains all of the terms climate change and biodiversity.
The terms, however, do not have to be adjacent to, or even near, one
another. |
| OR broadens your search |
climate change OR
global warming[Enter] |
Retrieves any record
that contains either the term climate change or global
warming. |
| Further Focus and
Refine your Search |
| Set searching |
#1 and #2 [Enter]
Note: May not work in all databases. Does not work in WWW search engines. |
Retrieves records that
contain both a term from set #1 and a term from set #2. Set
#1 might consist of global warming OR climate change and
Set #2 could be diversity OR biodiversity OR extinction |
| Nesting |
(diversity OR biodiversity)
and (climate change)[Enter]
Note: Used when set searching isn't available. |
Retrieves records that
contain either the terms diversity or biodiversity
and the term climate change. |
| Vocabulary |
Many databases have a
specific vocabulary, often included in an online thesaurus of terms.
Individual database records may list these terms as descriptors. |
Explore the thesaurus
in the database, or the subject terms in individual database records,
to identify more specific or appropriate terms to use in your search. |
This web page, http://www.lib.purdue.edu/life/searchtips.html,
includes some other helpful search tips.
 If you need help with your searches: Ask
a Librarian!
Searching 3: Finding the Article in the Library
Search the online catalog to see if NCSU Libraries has the journal:
go to the detailed
search page in the online catalog. (If you are at the library home page,
click on "search options".)
- First, select Journal Title as the "Search Type" from the pull-down
menu.
- Then type in the complete title of the journal-- Example: scientific american
(omit any beginning articles, such as "the").
Note: the catalog does not search by abbreviations for journal names.
- Finally, click on the Search button.
Look at the catalog record to locate the journal in the library.
- All journals are organized by call number.
- Current journals are located in the Periodical Reading Room, and older
journals are located in the book stack towers (where books are located).
- If the journal is available electronically, the catalog record will have
a link to the journal.
If the NCSU Libraries does not have the book or journal that you need:
- Use the TripSaver/Interlibrary Loan service to obtain books and articles
from other universities.
- This service is free to NCSU students, staff, and faculty.
- If Duke, UNC-Chapel Hill, or NCCU has the journal, the article usually
arrives within 2-4 business days.
- Forms are available online.
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Databases and Websites by Topic
Use the Database Finder!
The Database
Finder on the library's web site organizes databases by subject area.
Use the drop-down menu to select a subject area and hit "Go."
The resulting list has three categories of databases.
Core, or major, databases for a subject area are at the top. Narrower,
or more specialized, databases are in the second section. Databases,
usually multidisciplinary ones, that have some coverage of a topic are listed
in the last section.
Biological Abstracts Database
Note: This is the primary database
in the Biological Sciences.
It covers all areas and is a very good place to begin searching
for articles on any of your topics.
Biological
Abstracts
The most comprehensive biological database, scans over 4,000 journals
and is international in scope. Covers all subjects in biology, biomedicine,
and the life sciences, including agriculture, biochemistry, biotechnology,
ecology, immunology, microbiology, neuroscience, pharmacology, public health,
and toxicology. Includes original research articles (not reviews or conferences,
these are included in the Biological Abstracts/RRM database).
Coverage: 1969-present. (Most records included in the database from 1985 contain
abstracts.)
Databases & Websites to Search for Articles
in Agriculture
Biological
Abstracts (see
description, above)
Agricola
Covers the world's agricultural literature, including plant and animal sciences,
forestry, soil and water resources, and earth and environmental sciences.
Records describe journal articles, book chapters, books, series, microforms,
audiovisuals, maps, and other types of material. Coverage: 1970-current (with
some older material back to the 16th century).
CAB
Abstracts
Covers the world's literature on agriculture, forestry, and allied disciplines,
including animal and crop husbandry, animal and plant breeding, plant protection,
genetics, forestry engineering, economics, veterinary medicine, human nutrition,
recreation, and rural development. Records describe journal articles, books,
conference papers, reports, and other types of material. Coverage: 1972-current.
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Databases & Websites to Search for Articles
on Environmental Topics
Environmental
Sciences & Pollution Management
This multidisciplinary database provides comprehensive coverage of the environmental
sciences. Abstracts and citations are drawn from over 1500 scientific journals
and thousands of other sources including conference proceedings, reports,
monographs, books and government publications. This is a collection of databases
that includes Ecology Abstracts, Pollution Abstracts, Water Resources Abstracts,
and several others. You can also search the databases in this collection individually.
Coverage: 1981-current.
Note: When you get to the Cambridge Scientific Abstracts database page,
put a check mark in the box next to the database(s) that you want to search.
Biological
Abstracts(see
description, above)
Databases & Websites to Search for Articles in
Medical & Health Sciences
Medline
via PubMed
Covers over 3900 current biomedical journals in the fields of medicine,
nursing, dentistry, veterinary medicine, the health care system, bioethics,
and the preclinical sciences, including molecular biology and genetics. Includes
abstracts and citations, and links to the full-text of articles in journals
to which NC State subscribes. PubMed also links to the National Center for
Biotechnology Information's molecular biology databases.
Coverage: 1966- . Updated weekly.
Medline is also available through Cambridge
Scientific Abstracts.
HealthSource
Plus
Indexing and abstracts for 500 consumer health, nutrition and professional
periodicals. Includes many complete articles (full-text) from 250 periodicals,
19 books, and 1000 pamphlets. NOTE: Includes both scientific research articles
as well as articles from the popular press.
Coverage: Indexing, 1984-; Full Text, 1990-.
CINAHL
This database covers nursing, biomedicine, health sciences librarianship,
consumer health, and 17 allied health disciplines, and contains indexing for
over 1,200 nursing for journals, books and book chapters, dissertations, selected
conference proceedings, standards of practice, pamphlets, educational software
packages and audiovisual material.
Coverage: 1982- .
Biological
Abstracts
(see description, above)
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Databases & Websites to Search for Articles on
Genetics and Biotechnology
Genetics
Abstracts
Genetics Abstracts emphasizes the field of molecular genetics, with important
information on all aspects of DNA, differentiation and development, RNA, protein
synthesis, ribosomes, nuclear proteins and chromatin, enzymes, and gene regulation.
Coverage: 1982-present.
Nucleic
Acids Abstracts
Covers innovative cloning and sequencing strategies as well as gene
regulatory sequences and proteins, RNA processing and transport, RNA editing,
DNA biosynthesis, transcription factors, and oncoproteins. Coverage: 1982-present.
Medical
& Pharmaceutical Biotechnology Abstracts
Covers the worldwide literature on topics where genetics, molecular
biology, or biotechnology are applied to human medicine, human health, or
pharmaceutical development. Coverage: 1993-present.
Special Search Tip:
The above three databases, Genetics Abstracts, Nucleic Acids Abstracts,
and Medical & Pharmaceutical Biotechnology Abstracts are all part
of Cambridge Scientific Abstracts. You can search them simultaneously
by going to the CSA
Database page and selecting the individual databases from the database
list.
Medline
via PubMed
Described in the previous section. Covers the medical sciences, and pre-clinical
sciences such as biochemistry, genetics, and molecular biology. Also links
to National Center for Biotechnology Information's molecular biology databases.
Biological
Abstracts(see
description, above)
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History of Science
History
of Science, Technology and Medicine
Covers the history of science, technology, and medicine and allied historical
fields. Contains records describing journal articles, conference proceedings,
books, book reviews, and dissertations. Coverage: 1975-present.
For earlier coverage in the history of science, consult the ISIS Cumulative
Bibliography in the Reference Stacks (D.H. Hill Ref. Q125 .I85). This is a
print index that goes back to 1913.
The databases below are more general history and humanities databases, but
they may contain some relevant citations:
America:
History and Life
Covers United States and Canadian history from prehistory to the present.
Scope: current affairs, area studies, archaeology, ethnic studies, folklore,
historiography and methodology, international relations, oral history, government
and political science, popular culture, urban affairs, teaching of history,
and other interdisciplinary studies of historical interest and history-related
topics in the social sciences and humanities. Coverage: 1964-present.
Arts
and Humanities Citation Index
Multidisciplinary index to the journal literature of the arts and humanities.
Covers over 1100 journals spanning 25 disciplines. Can view article bibliographies
and search cited references and authors. Coverage: 1975-present.
Note: Consider also searching the Science
Citation Index (Web of Science), a multidisciplinary science index,
focus is more on scientific research than history of science.
Historical
Abstracts
Index to scholarly journal articles in history journals covering the time
period 1450 to the present, and focusing on regions outside the U.S. and
Canada. Coverage: 1969-present.
Internet History of Science Sourcebook
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/science/sciencesbook.html
Extensive web site of history of science information, including some original
documents. Probably best for background information.
Philosopher's
Index
Includes indexing and abstracts from books and journals of philosophy and
related fields. It covers the areas of ethics, aesthetics, social philosophy,
political philosophy, epistemology, and metaphysic logic as well as material
on the philosophy of law, religion, science, history, education, and language.
Coverage: 1949-present.
Finding Biographical Information about Scientists
TIP: Don't forget to search the library catalog for books about a specific scientist. Change the pull-down menu to "subject" and enter the scientist's name, last name first.
Dictionary of Scientific Biography
DH Hill Ref. Q141 .D5 1981 (18 vols.)
Substantial biographical essays about major scientists from the Ancient Greece
through the twentieth century. Includes bibliographies of works by and about
the scientists.
Biography
and Genealogy Master Index Online
Biography and Genealogy Master Index is a comprehensive index to more than
12.7 million biographical sketches in more than 3,400 volumes and editions
of current and retrospective reference books, covering both contemporary and
historical figures throughout the world. It includes references to the "Who's
Who in...." series.
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Librarian Contact Information
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