This guide is intended to assist students studying and researching topics in biology. It suggests ways to find both books and journal articles, using a wide variety of resources. Please see the Health Sciences and Chemistry guides for more information on those topics.
The Online Catalog may be a good place for you to start your research process. It will allow you to identify books in the Davis Memorial Library about your topic. The Online Catalog is available from any Internet accessible computer at http://davislibrary.methodist.edu/. Use the Keyword search to locate materials. Type in the concepts you are looking for, using "and" to combine terms (e.g. genetics and drosophila).
Electronic databases are used to locate journal, magazine, or newspaper articles on a particular topic. Some databases are designated as full-text, which means that the whole text of the article is available in that database. You can print, save, or email that article. When using a database or any other tool in the Library, always write down the full citation to an article (author, article title, journal title, volume, issue, date, and pages) so you will have this information for your bibliography. If the article is not available with full-text, try Journal Finder to see if articles from that journal are available in another database or in print in the Library.
Academic Search Premier
Academic Search Premier is a general database with many full-text articles included. It is a good place to look for many biology topics, so start your research for journals here. Select the "Scholarly" button to limit your results to scholarly, academic, peer-reviewed, and/or refereed journals. Remember to use Journal Finder for articles that do not have full-text included.
BioOne
BioOne is a collection of bioscience journals. These journals can be browsed by title or searched. Some titles include: American Biology Teacher, American Zoologist, Evolution, Journal of Coastal Conservation, Southeastern Naturalist, and many more. All journal articles are available in full-text, in either HTML or PDF formats. The Library only subscribes to the BioOne.1 collection.
Science Direct: Health and Life Sciences
Science Direct: Health and Life Sciences contains more than 1,000 full-text journals. Users can browse journsl by title and subject area. When searching, click the "Search" tab for the most precise search. Then click on the "Journals" tab to start your search. To limit to journals with full-text, change the "Source" menu to "Subscribed Journals." Limiting to "Article" will return only original research articles, and limiting to "Review Article" will return only articles containing a review of a significant body of research as well as a bibliography. You may also limit to dates and subjects. Note that the default date range is the last ten years.
Agricola
This database produced by the National Agriculture Library should be your first
resource for agricultural information including agricultural economics,
agricultural engineering, chemistry, entomology, food science, forestry, human
nutrition, natural resources, plant diseases, insect control, rural sociology,
and veterinary medicine. The dates covered are from 1970-present and over 5,000
periodicals are indexed. This database does not include full-text.
BasicBIOSIS
This database contains "records from core life science journals most easily found in college and university libraries." The dates covered are the last five years. Also, more than 350 periodicals are indexed. No full-text is available.
Biology
Digest
Biology Digest is a compilation of abstracts (no full-text) written especially for students in the areas of botany, life sciences, environmental science, medicine, health, and zoology. Over 300 sources are included. Journals from 1989 to present are indexed.
The Reference section of the library is a good place to develop possible topics, begin your research, and find critical pieces of information to finish your project. Try some of the following titles for information.
| Title | Location |
| General Science | |
| Dictionary of Microscopy | R 502.8203 H437d 2005 |
| Encyclopedia of Science and Technology | R 503 E56 2001 |
| McGraw-Hill Concise Encyclopedia of Science and Technology | R 503 M147 1998 |
| McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology | R 503 M147 1997 vol. 1-20 |
| Nature Encyclopedia: An A-Z Guide | R 508.03 N285 2001 |
| Notable Twentieth Century Scientists | R 509.22 N899 1995 v. 1-4 |
| Oxford Companion to the History of Modern Science | R 509 O98 2003 |
| Science, Technology, and Society: An Encyclopedia | R 503 S416 2005 |
| Biology | |
| Animal | R 590 A598 2001 |
| Biology Dictionaries | R 570.3 |
| Birds of North America | R 598.05 B618 |
| Cambridge Illustrated Glossary of Botanical Terms | R 580.14 H628c 2000 |
| Desk Encyclopedia of Microbiology | R 576 D459 2004 |
| Dictionary of Genetics | R 575.103 K54d 2006 |
| Encyclopedia of Evolution | R 576.803 P133e 2002 v. 1-2 |
| Encyclopedia of Insects | R 595.7 E56 2003 |
| Encyclopedia of Mammals | R 599.03 e56 2001 v. 1-3 |
| Encyclopedia of North American Trees | R 582.16097 B478e 2000 |
| Grzmek's Animal Life Encyclopedia | R 591 G895t v. 1-17 |
| Medical Microbiology | R 616.9041 M983m 2005 |
| Oxford Dictionary of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology | R 572.03 O98 2003 |
| Oxford Dictionary of Zoology | R 590.3 D554 2003 |
| Penguin Dictionary of Plant Sciences | R 580.03 B154p 1999 |
| Smithsonian Book of North American Mammals | R 599 .097 S664 1999 |
| Environmental Science | |
| Atlas of Climate Change | R 551.6 D744a 2006 |
| Atlas of U.S. and Canadian Environmental History | R 577.097 A881 2003 |
| Dictionary of Ecology | R 577.03 C699d 1998 |
| Dictionary of Environmentally Important Chemicals | R 628.5 A985d 1998 |
| Encyclopedia of Environmental Studies | R 577.03 A831e 2001 |
| Habitats and Ecosystems | R 577.03 C899h 1999 |
| Facts on File Dictionary of Environmental Science | R 577.03 F142 2000 |
| Toxic Waste Sites | R 577.27 C899t 1997 |
| Marine Science | |
| Atlas of Marine Invertebrate Larvae | R 592 A881 2002 |
| Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals | R 599.5 E56 2002 |
| Encyclopedia of the Sea | R 551.46 E47e 2000 |
| Facts on File Dictionary of Marine Sciences | R 551.46 F149 2001 |
| Rivers of the World | R551.483 P412r 2001 |