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Biology Research Guide

Find Books Find Articles Suggested Websites Research Process Guide

I. Find Books

A) Reference Materials: Encyclopedias, Dictionaries, etc.

Reference materials offer background information and broad overviews of subjects.
This information is often helpful in narrowing your topic and in selecting a specific
area to explore further. Reference materials such as almanacs and yearbooks also
provide quick access to statistical data.

1) Suggested Titles:

Penguin Dictionary of Biology. London: Penguin Books, 2004. (REF QH13

.N62 2004) Defines nearly 6000 terms, including more than 400 new
entries to account for new developments in genetics, disease, and cell
biology.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Bioscience. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill,

2003. (E-book) Covers more than 20 areas of life science, including
anatomy, biochemistry, botany, evolution, genetics, microbiology,
physiology, and zoology.

Encyclopedia of Genetics. London: Fitzroy Dearborn, 2001. (REF

QH427 .E533 2001) Includes 125 entries, covering all branches of
genetics: bacteria, viruses, insects, animals, plants, and humans.

Encyclopedia of Biodiversity. San Diego, CA: Academic Press, 2001.

(REF QH541.15 .B56 E53 2001). Major themes of the work include the
evolution of biodiversity, systems for classifying and defining
biodiversity, ecological patterns and theories of biodiversity, and an
assessment of contemporary patterns and trends in biodiversity.

Environmental Encyclopedia. Detroit, MI: Gale, 2003. (REF GE10 .E38

2003). Consists of nearly 1,300 signed articles and term definitions.
This is the 3rd edition of the award-winning Environmental
Encyclopedia. It provides an in-depth, worldwide coverage of
environmental issues.
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B) Library Catalog: Find Books

Students can search the library’s online catalog for print and e-books available within
the VC library system.

E-Books:
The library’s e-books can be checked-out and downloaded to an iPad, PC, or other
personal device. To download e-books, install an e-reader such as Adobe Digital
Editions, select a book from the library catalog, and then check-out and download the
book to your device.
View instructions for downloading e-books.
E-books are loaned for a period of 1 to 7 days. At the end of the check-out period, the
book is no longer accessible and automatically returned for use by other patrons. If a
book you are wanting is in use, you can place a hold on the book and receive an email
notification when the book is available.

C) Browse the Collection

Physically browse the titles shelved by call number in the following Library of
Congress Classification ranges:

GE: Environmental Sciences QL: Zoology

GF: Human Ecology QM: Human Anatomy
QH 1-278.5: Natural History QP: Physiology
QH 301-705.5: Biology QR: Microbiology
QK: Botany

II. Find Articles

A) Article Databases
1. Gale Academic OneFile is the library’s multidisciplinary database that offers full-
text journal coverage in almost all subject areas including social sciences,
political science, technology, health sciences, literature, and more.
Students can enter their search term to search hundreds of journals at once for
articles on their topic.
Features also include the ability to:
• Automatically generate a citation in the formatting style of your choice.
• Highlight text and insert notes.
• Download your markups into your Google Drive or One Drive.
• Filter your results by publication date, document type, and more.

B) In-house Magazines and Journals: Discover, National Geographic, and National

Wildlife, and Scientific American are all available in the reference section of the Wright
Library, located on the Vernon campus.
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III. Suggested Websites

PubMed: PubMed comprises more than 22 million citations for biomedical literature from
MEDLINE, life science journals, and online books. Citations may include links to full-text
content from PubMed Central and publisher web sites.

Encyclopedia of Life: An effort to compile information about all Earth’s life-forms from
books, journals, databases, websites, specimen collections, and human thoughts and
observations into one location.

National Center for Biotechnology Information: The National Center for Biotechnology
Information advances science and health by providing access to biomedical and genomic
information.
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The Research Process

1) Select a topic that you find interesting and appropriate for the assignment.

2) Review reference sources such as subject encyclopedias for background information to help
focus or narrow the search.

For example, students interested in antibiotics may consult the McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia
of Science & Technology for ideas in narrowing the focus to their use in farm animals.

3) Restate the topic as a question. Inquiry is at the heart of the research process, a quest to
locate information which answers questions and leads researchers to a greater
understanding of the topic.

Restating the topic as a question will help in:

- Locating information that is useful and relevant to the primary focus or thesis of your
research.
- Identifying the keywords or phrases to use in the search statement.

Example: What problems have resulted from the prophylactic use of antibiotics among
farm animals?

4) Develop a search statement by combining keywords or concepts from the research

question. For example, “antibiotics” and “farm animals” were identified as keywords in
the question above. By connecting one or more terms with the Boolean operator “and”, the
researcher will retrieve only those articles that discuss both concepts, thus improving the
relevancy of the search.

Enter in search field: antibiotics and farm animals

5) Develop alternate search statements to improve the search results. Authors may use
various terms to describe the same concept.

For example, farm animals is often used in the same context as livestock.

By identifying and connecting alternate terms, researchers may expand the search results.
As indicated below, consider brainstorming and listing synonyms or word variations to
identify alternate keywords.

Concept 1 Concept 2
antibiotics AND farm animals
antibacterial drugs AND livestock
antimicrobial drugs AND poultry
anti-infective agent AND cattle
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6) Evaluate information for objectivity and reliability.

7) Cite the information borrowed from other authors or informational sources. Careful
documentation will ensure that credit is given with no intention to plagiarize or claim
ownership of information belonging to other researchers. For explanations and examples,
visit the Duke University Library’s Citation page.

Questions?

Email: librarian@vernoncollege.edu

Chat: Select the chat icon on the library homepage.

Phone: 940-552-6291 ext: 2222