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Ellis Library

MU Libraries: Your Connection to Knowledge

Ellis Library Sourcepack for NATR 1070

Professors: Clark Gantzer, Charles Nilon, Bruce Cutter
Librarian: Brenda Graves-Blevins

Finding articles

From the MU Libraries Gateway page, choose Find a Database from the left menu.

  • Databases are electronic indexes that have thousands of articles, from often thousands of journals, magazines, etc. so that after you search on a topic the databases can provide you with citations to many journal and magazine articles, sometimes book chapters, dissertations and other documents.
  • Databases allow you to search by keyword, author, etc. and to retrieve citations, abstracts and often, even the fulltext of articles.

From the Find a Database page, choose Science and Technology, and then look for the list of databases under Natural Resources.

For the library assignments in NATR 1070, the following databases will probably be the most useful to you:

This first is a general database, but it is an excellent place to start because it covers all subject areas and it indexes both magazines and  peer-reviewed journal articles.

  • Academic Search Premier is a general database that provides some fulltext access to over 4,600 scholarly publications in all disciplines, including more that 3,500 that are peer-reviewed. In addition to the fulltext journals, this database offers indexing and abstracts for all 8, 052 publications in the database. Coverage is 1984 to date, updating is constant and many articles are fulltext.

The following databases are subject specialized databases covering certain science fields.  The annotations will give you and idea of what topics are covered in each database.

  • 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, updating is quarterly and there are some links to fulltext articles.
  • BioOne provides full-text access to over 80 bioscience journals published by small societies and noncommercial publishers.
  • CABDirect is produced by CAB International and provides worldwide coverage of agriculture in a very broad sense. Coverage includes plant and animal sciences, forestry, human health and nutrition, veterinary medicine, agricultural biotechnology, ecnomics and engineering. Coverage is 1900 to date, updating is quarterly and there are some links to fulltext.
  • Fish and Fisheries Worldwide provides citations and some abstracts 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. The database includes FISHLIT (1985-date), Fisheries Review (1971-date), Fish Subset of Medline (1966-date), Fishing Industry Research Institute (FIRI) Database, Fish Database (1960-date), Cstells Nutrition References (1970-date), AQUACULTURE (1970-1984), Fish Health News (1978-1985).
  • GEOBASE indexes journals, books conference proceedings, and reports covering geography, geology and ecology. Coverage is 1981 to date, updating is semimonthly and there is no fulltext.
  • GeoRef is the database of the American Geological Institute. It provides references to over 4,500 serial and other publications covering all aspects of geology and geophysics. GeoRef contains over 2 million references to geoscience journal articles, books, maps, conference papers, reports, theses and dissertations. It covers the geology of North America from 1785 to the present and the geology of the rest of the world from 1933 to the present.
  • Water Resources Abstracts covers a wide range of water resource topics including water resource economics, conservation, control, hydrology, water planning, water cycle (precipitation), snow, groundwater, lakes, erosion), and water quality (pollution, waste treatment). WRA covers predominantly English-language materials and includes monographs, journal articles, reports, patents, and conference proceedings. Coverage is 1968 to date.
  • Web of Science encompasses the Arts and Humanities Citation Index, the Science Citation Index, and the Social Science Citation Index. It covers the most prestigious, heavily cited journals, those with the highest impact factors, in all fields. Coverage is 1990 to date, updating is weekly and there are some links to fulltext.
  • Wildlife and Ecology Studies Worldwide indexes literature on wild mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians. All aspects of wildlife and wildlife management are covered. This resource is comprised of: Wildlife Review Abstracts (1935 and earlier to date), Swiss Wildlife Information Service (1974 to date), Wildlife Database (1960 to date), BIODOC (1970-1989), Waterfowl and Wetlands Database (1838 to date), and the IUCN - World Conservation Union (1946 to date).

Finding books

From the MU Libraries Gateway gateway page, choose MERLIN  from the top menu. MERLIN is a catalog of the books, journals, magaiznes and other materials owned by libraries on this campus as well as the other University of Missouri campuses at St. Louis, Kansas City and Rolla.

  • When you enter your search terms, the computer will default to searching only the MU campus.  By choosing ALL MERLIN, from the pull-down menu, you can expand your search to include all the libraries in the University of Missouri.System.  To expand your search still further to find what is available from nearly all the academic libraries in the state of Missouri, choose the MOBIUS button found at the extreme top of the MU Libraries Gateway page.

You may request items owned by other MERLIN libraries or MOBIUS libraries when:

  • We don't own a copy of the book
  • Our copy is checked out, missing or otherwise unavailable

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