Library Guides: BIOL 230W: Biology: Molecules and Cells: Finding Articles

Reference and Instruction Librarian

Francis Checchio

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Contact:

Penn State Beaver Library
100 University Drive
Monaca, PA 15061

724-773-3502

Subjects: Campus: Beaver, Library and Information Studies

Book a research consultation!

If you want to make a research consultation about any research questions, please use the link below and find a time that works for you!

https://tinyurl.com/brlibrarians

What Makes A Source Scholarly?

You don't have scholarly works without "scholars"--people who are experts in their field and dedicated to study and advancing knowledge of the subject. Typically they hold an advanced degree in their field and work for an organization dedicated to education and research, like a university or sometimes a "think tank." It's always a good idea to "Google" your authors to find out what makes them experts.

Scholars typically publish their research in special "scholarly journals." As young experts in your field, it's important to be exposed to these journals during your studies. Scholarly articles are typically organized in the same basic fashion, which helps make them easier for you to recognize. For more on this, see the Anatomy of a Research Article (NCSU). Scholarly journals are one of three main types of publications, including popular (magazines and newspapers) and trade (for people who work in a specific field).

The Science example:
http://www.sciencemag.org/site/feature/contribinfo/faq/index.xhtml#pct_faq
http://www.sciencemag.org/site/feature/contribinfo/prep/gen_info.xhtml#manuscript

The JAMA example:
http://jama.jamanetwork.com/public/instructionsForAuthors.aspx#EditorialReviewandPublication
http://jama.jamanetwork.com/public/instructionsForAuthors.aspx#CategoriesofArticles

Core Resources

Web of Science This link opens in a new window
(cited references) can be searched as a multidisciplinary database or you 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) This link opens in a new window
the premier source for aspects of human biology and medicine.
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
Biological Abstracts This link opens in a new window
Covers all aspects of biology, with emphasis on molecular biology, genetics and microbiology.
Biological Abstracts is the premier database for the biological sciences. BA monitors more than 5,000 international journals to ensure that virtually every life science topic is covered, including agriculture, biochemistry, biology, botany, molecular biology, biotechnology, physiology, microbiology, neurology, pharmacology, public health, toxicology, zoology, and ecology and the environment. Coverage is from 1926 to date.
ScienceDirect (Elsevier full text journal articles and electronic books) This link opens in a new window
Journal articles and book chapters covering various science topics.
This system provides access to the electronic versions of the Elsevier journals and books that we subscribe to. Current issues and back files are included. Currently, it includes more than 1,200 journals. The full text collection contains over 1.5 million articles and book chapters from 1995 to present across all fields of science.

Get the Full Text

Once you find the citation, try the button to see if Penn State has the electronic or print version of the article you need. If the electronic version is available, it will appear as the first link on the Get it! menu. If the article is not available electronically, click on The CAT link to automatically search our catalog and see if Penn State has a print copy. If no other copy is available, you use the InterLibrary Loan (ILL) link 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.