Library Guides: Biology: Find Articles

Top Picks

These databases are the best bets for finding articles on biological science topics.

BIOSIS Citation Index
Biological Abstracts, the premier biology article index, plus Biological Abstracts/Reports, Reviews and Meetings, for patents, book chapters and meeting reports, plus powerful citation searching
Get a comprehensive view of life sciences research, including the most important discoveries, significant influences and relevant connections. The new BIOSIS Citation Index combines the unique BIOSIS content that is critical to life sciences research with powerful citation indexing only the Web of Science™ can provide. You can rely on comprehensive and relevant life sciences coverage that eliminates excess and delivers data that is accurate, meaningful and timely.
Web of Science
covers all science topics so best for interdisciplinary topics. Also can search for new articles which cite an older article by using the cited ref search function
Web of Science provides access to: the Science Citation Index Expanded 1900-present; the Social Sciences Citation Index 1956-present; and the Arts & Humanities Citation Index 1975-present. Web of Science indexes articles from thousands of journals and also indexes the citations used in those articles, thus allowing the user to see which papers have cited a core paper, and how many times a paper was cited in a given time period. Covers published content is almost every discipline.
PubMed (Medline)
covers human biology and medicine, but also limited coverage of other organisms
PubMed is a web interface that allows you to search MEDLINE, the National Library of Medicine's premier database of citations and abstracts for biomedical research articles. The core subject is medicine, but subject coverage also includes bioethics, biology, chemistry, dentistry, environmental health, genetics, gerontology, health care planning and administration, history of medicine, hospital administration, microbiology, nutrition, nursing (International Nursing Index), physiology, pre-clinical sciences, public health, sports medicine, veterinary medicine and zoology. MEDLINE covers over 4,800 journals published in the United States and 70 other countries. The database contains over 15 million citations dating back to 1950. Coverage is worldwide and updated weekly. Learn more about PubMed at: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/about/. or Try the Tutorial at: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/pubmed_tutorial/m1001.html
CAB Abstracts (agriculture, nutrition and global health)
international multidisciplinary database covering topics in biology, agriculture, and world health
CAB Abstracts via CAB Direct covers all areas of agriculture including animal production and welfare (equine, dairy, cattle, poultry), horticulture, (fruits, nuts, vegetables ornamentals, flowers) crop science (grains, forages) and plant protection, applied economics and rural studies, animal nutrition, entomology, aquaculture and veterinary science, food science and nutrition, forestry and the management and conservation of natural resources, leisure and tourism, microbiology, parasitology, mycology, nematology, bacteriology and virology, biotechnology, and plant pathology and postharvest factors. CAB Direct also includes a Global Health section which covers international and public health, including bacterial, viral and prion diseases, mycology, parasitology, disease vectors, zoonotic diseases, nutrition and food safety, medicinal plants, toxicology and public and rural health.

Also Important

Environmental Sciences Collection
although emphasis on pollution and ecology, also covers aspects of bacteriology, microbiology, toxicology and biotechnology
The Environmental Sciences Collection provides abstracts and references to the environment literature covering all areas of air, land, water, and noise pollution as well as bacteriology, ecology, toxicology, risk assessment, environmental engineering, environmental biotechnology, waste management, and water resources from 1967 to the present.
Wildlife & Ecology Studies Worldwide
especially good for wildlife reproduction and natural history
Wildlife and Ecology Studies Worldwide is the world's largest index to literature on wild mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians. All aspects of wildlife and wildlife management are covered, with a global perspective. Major topic areas include studies of individual species, habitat types, hunting, economics, wildlife behavior, management techniques, diseases, ecotourism, zoology, taxonomy and much more. Coverage is 1935 to present.
Zoological Record
especially good for taxonomy
Zoological Record is the world's oldest continuing database of animal biology. It is considered the world's leading taxonomic reference, and with coverage back to 1864, has long acted as the world's unofficial register of animal names. The broad scope of coverage ranges from biodiversity and the environment to taxonomy and veterinary sciences.
Dissertations & Theses
includes doctoral dissertations from most U.S. institutions
ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global is the most comprehensive collection of dissertations and theses in the world, with more than 2.5 million available in full text PDF.
Dissertations and Theses @ CIC full-text
full-text doctoral dissertations from the 15 CIC Institutions (Big10 + University of Chicago)
Full-text access to dissertations and theses written by graduates of CIC institutions are available.

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Article Search Tips

Finding the best articles on your topic requires these steps.

Select an appropriate database.
Enter and combine terms appropriate to your topic
Scan the best items on the results list and look for new subject terms or keywords. Then revise your search using these new terms.
Save the journal title, volume, date, and page numbers. This is all part of the "citation".
Explore other databases and subject terms (which vary between databases) for more information.

Get the Full Text

Once you find the citation, try the button to see if Penn State has the electronic version of the article you need. If the electronic version is available, you should get right to it. If the article is not available electronically, use the Request via InterLibrary Loan (ILL) button to request it from another library. ILL will get a copy of the article for you, typically at no cost; articles usually arrive within a week, often in as few as 2-3 days. Watch your PSU email for notification and further instructions. You can also click on the Search the library catalog for this item (by title) link to automatically search our catalog and see if Penn State has a print copy.

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