IDS 303: Humans and the Environment

Finding Journal Articles on Your Topic

General (Multidisciplinary) Databases.

Tip: the new Find Articles page is a good way to get to most of the following databases.

A "scholarly, multi-disciplinary full text database containing full text for nearly 4,650 serials, including more than 3,600 peer-reviewed publications. In addition to the full text, this database offers indexing and abstracts for more than 8,200 journals in the collection." Updated daily.

Science Citation Index Expanded (via Web of Science) (NCSU only)

Multidisciplinary index to the journal literature of the sciences. Covers 5,900 major journals across 150 scientific disciplines. Has searchable author abstracts. Can view article bibliographies and search cited references and authors. Coverage: 1945-present. Updated weekly.
: Note: you can search Science Citation Index Expanded, Social Sciences Citation Index, and Arts & Humanities Citation Index at the same time.

JSTOR (NCSU only)

In the NCSU Libraries Databases list, under the letter "J"

"Provides image and full-text online access to back issues of selected scholarly journals in history, economics, political science, demography, mathematics and other fields" of the humanities, social sciences, and biological sciences. Coverage varies for each title.

Select (from the bottom of the search page) one or more disciplines to search--for example, Ecology, General Science, Philosophy, Political Science, Sociology. Then type in your search terms at the top. Note: truncation symbol (for singular and plural only) is the plus sign (+).

Subject-specific Databases.

Some of the major journal article indexes (databases) for the life sciences, engineering, the humanities, and social sciences are listed below. Search the relevant indexes for citations and abstracts of articles related to your topic. Additional indexes are available through the NCSU Libraries Databases list.

Life Sciences Databases.

Biological Abstracts (NCSU only)

Provides comprehensive coverage of worldwide journal literature in the life sciences. Nearly 6,500 international journals are indexed and subjects covered include agriculture, plant science, microbiology, toxicology and zoology. Coverage: 1980-present. Updated quarterly.

CAB Abstracts

Worldwide index to agriculture, forestry, and allied disciplines, including animal and human nutrition. From the Centre for Agriculture & Biosciences International. Coverage: 1972-present. Updated quarterly.

Animal Behavior Abstracts covers significant papers relevant to animal behavior, with subjects ranging from neurophysiology to behavioral ecology, from genetics to applied ethology. Coverage: 1982- present. Updated: monthly.

Ecology Abstracts covers current ecology research on subjects ranging from habitats to food chains, from erosion to land reclamation. The focus is on "how organisms of all kinds--microbes, plants, and animals--interact with their environments and with other organisms." Coverage: 1982-present. Updated: monthly.

Toxicology Abstracts covers issues from social poisons and substance abuse to natural toxins, from legislation and recommended standards to environmental issues. Also includes in vivo effects, toxicity testing methodology, and analytical procedures. Coverage: 1981-present. Updated monthly.

Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries Abstracts.
Coverage: 1978-present. Updated monthly.

Environmental Sciences and Pollution Management. A collection of smaller databases or subfiles, including Human Population & Natural Resource Management, Pollution Abstracts, and others. Coverage: varies by database. Updated monthly.

MEDLINE provides access to worldwide biomedical literature. Coverage: 1990-present. Updated monthly.

Oceanic Abstracts covers the worldwide technical literature pertaining to the marine and brackish-water environment. It focuses on marine biology and physical oceanography, fisheries, aquaculture, non-living resources, meteorology and geology, plus environmental, technological, and legislative topics. Coverage: 1981-present. Updated monthly.

TOXLINE covers all areas of toxicology, including chemicals and pharmaceuticals, pesticides, environmental pollutants, and mutagens and teratogens. This database provides bibliographic citations and abstracts from journal articles, monographs, technical reports, theses, letters, meeting abstracts, papers and reports. Produced by the U.S. National Library of Medicine. Coverage: last 5 years, plus current year. Updated monthly.

Fish, fisheries & aquatic biodiversity worldwide

Wildlife and Ecology Studies Worldwide

Engineering Databases.

Compendex (NCSU only)

Subject areas include nuclear technology, bioengineering, transportation, chemical and process engineering, light and optical technology, agricultural engineering and food technology, computers and data processing, applied physics, electronics and communications, control, civil, mechanical, materials, petroleum, aerospace and automotive engineering. Sources indexed include journals, conference proceedings, reports and books.
Coverage: 1884-present. Updated weekly.

Humanities and Social Sciences Databases.

PAIS International (NCSU only)

Public Affairs Information Service offers worldwide literature in public and social policy, law, finance, international relations, political science, law, public administration, and government. Indexes journals, reports, government documents, directories, books, statistical yearbooks, and conference proceedings. Coverage: 1972-present. Updated quarterly.

Philosopher's Index (NCSU only)

Contains author-written abstracts covering scholarly research in the fifteen fields of philosophy, published in journals and books from 38 countries. Coverage: 1940-present.

Social Sciences Citation Index and Arts & Humanities Citation Index (via Web of Science) (NCSU only)

Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI) is a multidisciplinary index to the journal literature of the social sciences. Coverage: 1956-present. Updated weekly.
Arts & Humanities Citation Index (A&HCI) is a multidisciplinary index covering the journal literature of the arts and humanities. Coverage: 1975-present. Updated weekly

Search Tips

To search by keyword	Type words or phrases and press [Enter] lung cancer [Enter]	Retrieves records with the phrase lung cancer in the title, abstract, or subject headings
To truncate terms (wildcard searching)	Type the word you wish to search followed by an asterisk () vaccin [Enter] Note: The truncation symbol varies depending on the database.	Retrieves records with terms beginning with vaccin such as vaccine vaccines vaccination vaccinating vaccinated
AND narrows your search	lung cancer and prevention [Enter]	Retrieves any record that contains both the phrase lung cancer and the term prevention.
OR broadens your search	aids or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome [Enter]	Retrieves any record that contains either the term aids or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome.
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.
Nesting	(Aids or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) and prevention [Enter] Note: Used when set searching isn't available.	Retrieves records that contain either the term aids or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome and the term prevention.

Librarian Contact Information

Carol Vreeland, Associate Director, Veterinary Medicine Library
513-6823
carol_vreeland@ncsu.edu