Home: MICROBIOLOGY

Reference Sources

Finding Journal Articles

Print Indexes and Abstracts

Finding Books

U.S. Government Information and U.S. Patents

Internet Resources

Microbiology: Finding Journal Articles

If a topic is too current or too specific to be covered by a handbook, encyclopedia, or book, it may be discussed in journal articles, research reports, or conference papers. Access to this literature has traditionally been through indexing and abstracting services. There is no universal index that covers all the published information in microbiology, so at times you may have to consult several sources.

Electronic Databases

  • AGRICOLA
    Agriculture and related literature indexed by the National Agricultural Library (NAL). Indexes journals, books, theses, patents, software, audiovisual materials, technical reports, and agricultural experiment station reports held by the NAL.
    • AGRICOLA. Coverage: 1970-present. Updated quarterly.
    • AGRICOLA via Community of Science (http://agricola.cos.com/). (NCSU only). Coverage: 1979-present. Updated monthly.
    • AGRICOLA via National Agricultural Library (http://www.nalusda.gov/ag98/). Poor interface. Coverage: 1970-present. Updated daily.

      Use the Journals Indexed in AGRICOLA (JIA) database to find the full title for the journal abbreviation found in AGRICOLA.
      Note: you must include punctuation marks in your search. For example, to find out if Arch. microbiol. is indexed in AGRICOLA, search for Arch. microbiol. (not Arch microbiol) in Abbreviated Title.

    • 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.
    • Biotechnology and Bioengineering Abstracts
      Includes "research, applications, regulatory developments and new patents across all areas of biotechnology and bioengineering." Coverage: 1982- present. Updated monthly.
    • Conference Papers Index. "Provides citations to papers and poster sessions presented at major scientific meetings around the world. Subject emphasis since 1995 has been in the life sciences, environmental sciences and the aquatic sciences, while older material also covers physics, engineering and materials science." Coverage: 1982- present. Updated bimonthly.
    • MEDLINE, produced by the National Library of Medicine, is the primary index to the biomedical literature including microbiology and genetics. Use the Medical Subject Headings via the Thesaurus feature of the software to search by subject. Coverage: 1950- present. Updated: monthly.
    • NTIS (National Technical Information Service) Indexes the technical report literature. The NTIS database is "the preeminent resource for accessing the latest U.S. government-sponsored research and worldwide scientific, technical, engineering, and business-related information...Additionally, information is available from international government departments and other international organizations, including those from Canada, Japan, the former Soviet Union, Western and Eastern European countries." Coverage: 1964- present. Updated biweekly.
    • Dissertation Abstracts
      Indexing and abstracting for doctoral dissertations from participating colleges and universities in the U.S., Canada, and selected international institutions. Dissertation Abstracts also contains citations, with abstracts (since 1988), to masters' theses. Coverage: 1861- present. Updated quarterly.
    • Ingenta (previously known as UnCover) and Reveal research alert service
      A multidisciplinary table of contents database, updated nightly, indexing articles in over 17,000 journals. Coverage: Fall 1988- present.

      Reveal is an automated alerting service that delivers the table of contents of periodicals of interest directly to your e-mail box. The Reveal service also allows users to create search strategies for their favorite topics. Weekly alerts on the latest articles published on the specified topics are delivered to the user's e-mail address.

    • NC State University Authors Database
      Search by author or department for published articles, books, or patents. Coverage: 1997-present.
    • Science Citation Index Expanded (via Web of Science)
      A multidisciplinary database that covers 3,330 major journals across 100 scientific disciplines. Indexes cited references of the articles in the database so you can search by cited author, cited patent or cited paper. This allows you to trace a particular research topic in the scientific literature. Coverage: 1945- present. Updated weekly.
    • ScienceDirect (NCSU only)
      Web database for scientific research that contains abstracts, articles and full text of more than 1000 Elsevier Science journals in the life, physical, medical, technical, and social sciences. Coverage: Varies by title.
    • SciFinder Scholar (Chemical Abstracts and MEDLINE)
      Chemical Abstracts is the most comprehensive index for chemical research. It covers more than 10,000 journals, as well as books, conference proceedings, and patents. You may search Chemical Abstracts by general subject, chemical substance name, molecular formula, ring system structure, author, or patent number. Coverage: 1907-present. Updated daily to weekly. (Note: MEDLINE coverage is 1958-present. Updated weekly.)

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