MU Libraries Sourcepack

BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES 8050: Professional Survival Skills
Instructor: Kathy Newton
NewtonK@missouri.edu
323 Tucker Hall

Find Journal Articles

• Begin at the MU Libraries' Gateway.  Click on Find a Database and then click on the subject area, Science and Technology.
  
• Choose a subject area such as Biochemistry, Biology or Plant Sciences.  Select one of the databases from the list and follow instructions on how to conduct a search.  Every database has a slightly different interface, but all have help pages that contain tips and/or tutorials.

Suggested Databases for Biological Sciences:

• Biological Abstracts
  Biological Abstracts encompasses all disciplines of the life sciences. Coverage includes traditional areas of biology, such as botany, zoology, and microbiology, as well as related fields such as plant and animal science, agriculture, pharmacology, and ecology. Interdisciplinary fields such as biochemistry, biophysics, and biotechnology are also included. Over 6,500 journals worldwide are monitored for inclusion in the database. Coverage is 1980 to date.  Earlier years are available in print: Ellis Library Reference QH 301 .B37 (1926 - 1979)
  
• BioOne
  BioOne provides full-text access to over 80 biological science journals published by small societies and noncommercial publishers.  Titles include American Midland Naturalist, Bioscience and Biotropica.
  
• Fish and Fisheries Worldwide 
  Fish and Fisheries Worldwide indexes articles on all aspects of ichthyology, fisheries, and related aspects of aquaculture. Major topics include culture and propagation, limnology and oceanography, genetics and behavior, natural history, parasites, diseases, habitat management, fish processing/marketing, general research, and fisheries management. 1960 to date.
  
• Google Scholar
  Directions for setting up Google to link to fulltext resources provided by the MU Libraries.
  
• JSTOR
  JSTOR is a full-text database providing access to the back files of 300 scholarly journals. 29 of these titles cover botany and ecology including American Midland Naturalist, Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics, Ecological Applications, Ecology, and Journal of Ecology.  Coverage begins with volume one of each title and continues to within 4-5 years of the present. Includes graphs, photographs, and images.
  
• PubMed
  The National Library of Medicine free article search engine, containing article references from MEDLINE, PreMEDLINE, OLDMEDLINE, plus some publisher-supplied and out of scope citations from certain general science and chemistry journals, such as Science and Nature.
  
• Scopus
  Indexes journals, conference proceedings and web sites in the sciences and social sciences.  Coverage is 1996 to date though earlier material is being added regularly.
  
• Wildlife and Ecology Studies Worldwide 
  Wildlife Worldwide indexes literature on wild mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians. All aspects of wildlife and wildlife management are covered. 1946 to date.
  
• Zoological Record
  Zoological Record indexes and abstracts worldwide zoological literature. The database provides references from over 6,500 international journals, review annuals, monographs, meeting proceedings, books, and reports. Coverage is 2005 to date. Use the following link to search Zoological Record simultaneously with Biological Abstracts: Biological Abstracts/Zoological Record

Find the Full-text of Journal Articles

• If you're looking at results in one of the databases listed above just click on the button next to the article citation. The article will display if it's available electronically. If there is no online access, you'll be given the opportunity to look for a print copy in the MERLIN Catalog
  
• If you have an article reference, but are not currently in a database, go to the MU Libraries' homepage and select Find a Specific Article/Journal to enter . Once in you're given the choice to search for a specific article or journal title. If electronic coverage is not available, check the MERLIN Catalog to see if we have a print copy of the journal.
  
• Use our interlibrary loan service called ILL@MU to access articles not owned by MU Libraries. If you find a journal article that you need, but cannot find the article using click on the option Request through Interlibrary Loan/Request a Copy.
  
• You can also request an article without using the feature by filling out an article request form available from the Request Items - ILL@MU under About the Libraries on the MU Libraries homepage.
  Usually you will receive the article electronically within a few days of making your request.

Save Searches and Auto Alerts

• Many databases allow you to save searches to run at a future date or set up Auto Alerts (a saved search that will be run whenever the database is updated with the results emailed to you). Go to the following link for instructions for setting up alerts in specific databases: Saving Searches and Auto Alerts
• You can set up alerts in MERLIN to be notified when new books arrive in a particular subject area: MERLIN Alerts or you can subscribe to New Book RSS Feeds

Keeping Track of Your References and Making Bibliographies

• Download Endnote software which is free for MU students.
• Endnote instructions and guides.

Other Resources

• Biology Browser
  Web portal for biological information. Searchable by organism, subject and geographic locations.
  
• Birds of North America
  Comprehensive reference covering the life histories of North American birds. Includes audio, video and extensive references.
  
• Cold Spring Harbor Protocols
  
• Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia
  
• National Center for Biotechnical Information (NCBI)
  U.S. government site established as a National Resource for molecular biology information. Provides access to the GenBank, the Genetic Sequence database as well as databases dealing with nucleotide sequences, protein sequences, macromolecular structures and whole genomes.  This site also provides a guide to online information resources on the Human Genome. Entrez is the search engine for all of the NCBI databases as well as PubMed.
  
• World Biodiversity Database
  WBD, produced by the Expert Center for Taxonomic Identification, is attempting to document all presently known species (about 1.7 million). The WBD contains taxonomic information (hierarchies), species names, synonyms, descriptions, illustrations and literature references when available.
  
• For additional online and print resources in the biological sciences go to the following MU Libraries subject web guides: Biology | Botany | Molecular Biology | Zoology

Find Library Books

• From the MU Libraries' homepage, choose the MERLIN Catalog. 
  
• If you do not find enough books on your topic to meet your needs, change your search to "ALL MERLIN." By doing so you will be checking the library holdings at UMSL, UMKC, UMR and MU all at once.
  
• Still not enough? Click on the MOBIUS Catalog button. This expands your search to about 50 additional libraries in our network.
  
• Most books you find through the MERLIN Catalog or the MOBIUS Catalog are requestable online simply by clicking the "Request Item" link. Requested books usually take about three working days to arrive.
  
• You may request books not listed in the MERLIN Catalog or the MOBIUS Catalog via interlibrary loan: ILL@MU. Use ILL@MU Logon under the About the Libraries section of the MU Libraries' homepage.