Places to Begin: Reference Resources

Encyclopedia of Environmental Science		Ref GE 10. M66 2000
Concise encyclopedia biology		Ref QH 302.5 .A2313 1996
Encyclopedia of bioethics		Ref QH 332 .E52 2004
Encyclopedia of environmental biology		Ref QH 540.4 .E52 1995
Encyclopedia of biodiversity.		Ref QH 541.15 .B56 E53 2001
Grzimek's encyclopedia of ecology.		Ref QH 541 .G79
The Cambridge Dictionary of Human Biology and Evolution		E-book 2005
Bender’s Dictionary of Nutrition and Food Technology		E-book 2004
Dictionary of Developmental Biology and Embryology		E-book 2002
Concise dictionary of biomedicine and molecular biology		Ref R 121 .J86 2002
Smithsonian Physical Tables (9th Revised Edition)
Knovel Critical Tables

 

Call numbers to Browse

Many science resources are shelved in the “Q” area.

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Subject Headings

Examples of keywords you can use to search the library catalog:

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Biology Databases  

Places to Start

Other Places to Look

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Finding Journal Articles

Articles published in scholarly, or peer-reviewed publications are frequently the most up-to-date source of reliable information for your academic work.

Locating a journal article is usually a 2-step process: (1) identifying an article with the information you want and (2) locating the periodical in which that article appears.

Identifying an article: Search in databases appropriate for your subject area. Find articles that apply to your research question.

Locating the periodical: Check the Good Library catalog or Citation Linker. If the library does not have the journal, you may request the article through Interlibrary Loan.

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Web Resources

General

arXiv.org Open access to 498,000 e-prints in quantitative biology, physics, mathematics, computer science, and statistics. Owned and operated by Cornell University; funded by National Science Foundation.

Encyclopedia of Life Open source collaboration of Harvard University, Smithsonian Institution, Field Museum, Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole, Biodiversity Heritage Library consortium, and Missouri Botanical Garden. Currently consists of 40,000 species pages.

Free Medical Journals: High quality biomedical/medical journals. You will just need to note how long the publication waits until it becomes free online; anywhere from immediately to two years. Links in the left frame allow you to sort by subject area.

Library of Congress Agriculture, Botany, Horticulture Subject Guide

Library of Congress Biology, Genetics, Natural History, Zoology Subject Guide

The National Academies
National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine and National Research Council. Up to date and loaded with information.

Scirus: The award-winning search engine devoted to science searches.

The Why Files: The Science Behind the News. Weekly publication from the University Of Wisconsis-Madison about the science behind current news headlines and events that occur in daily life.

WWW Unit Converter
Convert temperature scales, weight, volume, and more.

Subject-specific

Animal Diversity Web from U. of Mich. Museum of Zoology

BioDiversity Hotspots Focuses on 25 ecosystems worldwide

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)

Entomology index The directory and search engine of insect-related resources on the internet.

Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes Bioinformatics resource

Plants national database Search by common name, scientific name, family or genus for plants known to live within the boundaries of the U.S., including territories.

PrimateLit database Use this database to search for scholarly work on anything regarding primates.

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For Further Assistance, ask a Reference Librarian

Updated 27-Oct-2009 SWH