• Do not discount books as a potential resource. Bibliographies at the end of chapters can be valuable to your research.
  
  
• Use the online catalog. Consider your search terms carefully. You may need to think more broadly.
  
  
• Example: osteichthyes and (evolution* or phylogen* or systematics) VS fishes and (evolution* or phylogen* or systematics)
• Search Tips: Make a list of possible search terms and use Boolean operators (and, or) to connect terms. Use parentheses with synonyms and consider truncation.

   

• Selected titles in Reference (Tier 2) include:
  
  

• Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia, available in print and online! The print edition is in Reference. To access the online version, do a title search in the catalog and select the entry that includes [electronic resource] behind the title. (Note: This is part of the Gale Virtual Reference Library.)
  
• Birds of North America Online - listed under "Indexes & Abstracts."
• Handbook of the Birds of the World - multi-volume set
• Darwin's Fishes : An Encyclopedia of Ichthyology, Ecology, and Evolution
  
• Encyclopedia of Evolution (2 volumes). Useful if you need background information related to evolutionary theories or processes.
• Evolution of the Insects
• Handbook of Bird Biology

2. Article Databases

• There are numerous databases which will be useful for locating articles related to your topic. They are listed under "Collections - Indexes and Abstracts."
  
  
• Biological and Agricultural Index - good starting point for research, much smaller than Biosis Previews. Coverage: 1983-present
  
• Biosis Previews - Part of the Web of Knowledge. Main biological and life sciences database. This is a large (15 million citations) database. Consider using "Limits" to narrow your searches (e.g. English language, articles). Coverage: 1980-present
• Fish & Fisheries Worldwide - covers all aspects of ichthyology and fisheries, and related aspects of aquaculture. Coverage: 1972-present
• Zoological Record - comprehensive index to the zoological literature. Coverage: 1864-present
• Wildlife and Ecology Studies Worldwide - covers wild mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians. Coverage: 1935-present
• CAB Abstracts - covers agricultural sciences, animal sciences, biotechnology and molecular biology, entomology, environmental sciences, genetics and breeding, microbiology, parasitology, and plant sciences. International in scope. Coverage 1910-present
• AGRICOLA - covers agricultural sciences. Coverage: 1970-present

 

• Evolution in Current Events Assignment - identifying a publication from the mainstream media (e.g. Time, Newsweek, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, London Times). Suggested indexes:
  • Academic OneFile - indexes popular magazines and newspapers
  • Lexis-Nexis Academic - indexes newspapers
  • Access World News - indexes newspapers

3. Search Tips

• Consider how truncation will affect the search. Include synonyms in your search when appropriate.
  
  
• Consider searching for a review article on your topic. Some databases offer "Review" as a limit.
  
  
• Is full-text available? Look for the "Get it@ISU" button in the database. Also, check the library catalog (Serial title search) and the e-Journals & e-Books list to determine whether or not the Library has access to the journal.

4. Web of Science (part of the Web of Knowledge)

• includes the Science Citation Index. Consider using this if you have found the "perfect" article and want to find related/similar articles.
  

  • Example Citation: Clark, LG, Zhang WP, Wendel JF. (1995) A phylogeny of the grass family (poaceae) based on NDHF - sequence data. Systematic Botany 20 (4): 436-460.
    
  • Searching the Web of Science
    
    
    • Click on Web of Science in the Indexes & Abstracts list.
    • Uncheck the Social Sciences Citation Index and the Arts & Humanities Citation Index.
    • Click the Cited Reference Search button.
    • A Cited Reference Search allows you to "Find the citations to a person's work by entering the person's name, the work's source, and/or publication year."
    • Using the example citation, this article has been cited 118 times, and the article had 83 references in the bibliography.
    • Look at the references. This will give you a sense of how this work has influenced other scientists' research.

5. Searching the Web

• Scirus (http://www.scirus.com/srsapp/) - "Scirus is the most comprehensive science-specific search engine on the Internet. Driven by the latest search engine technology, Scirus searches over 200 million science-specific Web pages." Scirus now includes links to digitized theses and dissertations.
• Google Scholar (http://scholar.google.com/) - This points you to reliable sources, but the updates to the database can be infrequent.

6. Off-campus Access to Databases and e-Journals

• You need a Library Pin number for off-campus access. (http://www.lib.iastate.edu/collections/borrpinnumb.html)
• If you find links to electronic journals that do not work off-campus and you think they should work, please let me know!

7. Interlibrary Loan

• Consider using Interlibrary Loan to obtain journal articles or books not owned by the Library.
• It is fast! Because of the increased availability of articles in electronic format, articles may arrive within days.
• Submit all requests via the online form: (http://www.lib.iastate.edu/isu-bin/ILL)
• This service is free!

Questions?

Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have questions about locating resources.

Andrea Dinkelman, Science & Technology Librarian
adinkelm@iastate.edu

Last updated 10/02/07.