BIOLOGY 312 Writing In Biology - Caralyn Zehnder
Your Librarian
Tips for Searching Databases
Search Term Connectors:
Use AND to find articles that contain both words you enter. AND narrows your search.
Use OR to find articles that contain either word you enter. OR broadens your search.
Use NOT to find articles that exclude words or terms you don't want. NOT narrows your search. (Be careful using NOT, as you can unintentionally exclude articles that would be good for your topic.)
You can also narrow your search by putting a search phrase in quotation marks. For example, searching for "heart attack" will usually give you fewer results than just searching heart attack.
Recommended Databases for Peer Reviewed Articles in Biology
Here are a few databases that are good starting points to look for articles on your topic. For more options, use the link on the Link to Biology Research Guide page and go to the Find Articles tab.
- Web of Science This link opens in a new window
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Index to articles from peer-reviewed journals in all disciplines.Search by cited reference, topic, author, and more. Arts and Humanities covers 1975-present; Social Sciences 1900-present; and Science 1900-present. - PubMed This link opens in a new window
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National Library of Medicine's comprehensive database of citations to medical journal articles, with links to UMass-subscribed full text, 1946-present. PubMed includes all MEDLINE content, plus content from additional journals and books in the life sciences. - BIOSIS Citation Index This link opens in a new window
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Indexes content from journals, conferences, books, and U.S. patents covering the life sciences and biomedical research since 1926. - BioOne This link opens in a new window
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Bioscience research journals in full text. Covers 179 titles from 136 society and nonprofit publishers, including some open access journals. Coverage varies; earliest is 1994-present. - Gale In Context: Environmental Studies This link opens in a new window
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Search by topic and/or geography: agriculture, food, energy, pollution, economic development, social factors and in journals, magazines, newspapers, encyclopedias as well as primary sources.
Popular Science Articles
There are many places to find popular science articles or articles written more for the general population than career scientists. Some suggested websites and journals:
- New York Times - Science SectionFor full access, make sure you create an account first using the directions in the next box.
- New York Times - Health sectionFor full access, make sure you create an account first using the directions in the next box.
Create New York Times Account
New York TImes Online
UMass Amherst Libraries have purchased access to the New York Times Academic Pass program for the UMass Amherst campus. To register for your academic account to the New York Times, you'll need a UMass Amherst email address.
Follow the Registration instructions on our New York TImes Online guide to set up your account.
Natural History Poster
Recommended resources for finding more information on your chosen animal:
- Encyclopedia of LifeCollaborative internet project to document all species of life on earth. A work in progress, it contains some information about many thousands of species, but is far from complete at this time.
- Zoological Record This link opens in a new window
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Citations to periodical articles and other scholarly literature on zoology, biochemistry, behavior, ecology evolution, and genetics, 1864-present. - Birds of the World This link opens in a new window
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Birds of the World is a powerful research database that brings together deep, scholarly content from four celebrated works of ornithology with millions of bird observations from eBird and multimedia from the Macaulay Library into a single platform where biologists and birders can explore comprehensive life history information on birds.
Finding Full Text & Interlibrary Loan
When you find an article you want, you can click on the UMass search button to get the full text.
The UMass search button connects to a tool that will find the full text online if it is available in any of the databases UMass has access to.
- It will also search the library catalog to see if the library has it in print.
If an article or book is unavailable at UMass Amherst, you can get it using our Interlibrary Loan service. There will be a link to Request this resource through Interlibrary Loan on the window that opens after you click the UMass search button.
- Here's a screenshot as an example of you might see after clicking the UMass search button.
More about Interlibrary Loan
To log into Interlibrary Loan use your UMass NetID and password (same as what you use for SPIRE and Moodle or Blackboard).
The first time you use Interlibrary Loan, you will be prompted to fill out a profile form, so we know who you are and how to contact you when your item arrives.
- NOTE: In the Delivery Preferences section of the profile form, you must choose a Loan Delivery Method and a Pickup Location. All article requests are delivered electronically, so these options do not apply to articles.
After completing the profile, you should then see a pre-populated article request form. Make sure all the required fields are completed (sometimes they don't all transfer to the form), then submit it and usually in 1-2 business days you'll get an email that your article has arrived! The email will include a link into the Interlibrary Loan system, where your article PDF will be available to print or download.
Browsing Scientific Literature - By Journal
If you are interested in browsing some of the peer-reviewed science and medical journals, here are some suggested titles to start with.
NOTE: Not everything in these journals is peer-reviewed. Be sure to look for research articles (with Abstract, Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, References) to use in your assignments!
Is the journal Peer Reviewed?
Many of your assignments will require you to locate articles from Peer Reviewed journals. Some databases include an option to limit your search results to only articles from peer reviewed journal.
Other databases, like PubMed, do not. There are several ways you can find out if a journal is peer reviewed.
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One of the easiest ways is to look the journal title up using the eJournals link on the UMass Amherst Libraries home page. Above the journal title, it will say peer reviewed if it is.
Or, you can look it up in the Ulrich's database (linked below). Peer reviewed (also called refereed) journals will have this symbol next to the title:
- How to find out if a Journal is Peer ReviewedHandout with step-by-step instructions on how to find out if a journal is Peer-Reviewed
- Ulrich's Web This link opens in a new window
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Comprehensive index of periodicals types, published worldwide.
