Guides: BIO 260: Modes of Scientific Communication: Home

Workshop Agenda - Spring 2018

Topics to be Covered

1. Tour of library home page

2. Sign up for Interlibrary Loan (ILL)

3. Using WestSearch, Databases, and Google Scholar

4. Finding known references from bibliographies

Recommended Databases

Academic Search Premier This link opens in a new window
This multi-disciplinary database has records for nearly 18,000 periodicals - journals, magazines, and newspapers - of which nearly 16,000 are peer reviewed. It provides full text for more than 5,000 journals, and you can use Journal Finder to locate articles that do not have a PDF readily available.
- Basic Search: Preform a basic search by entering keywords into the search bar then clicking on the green "SEARCH" button.
- Advanced Search: Click on the blue "Advanced Search" link below the search bar to add filters and multiple keywords before you begin searching.
- Boolean Logic & Filters: All EBCSO hosted databases allow you to narrow and expand your search using Boolean operators and filters. Access them in the advanced search option or on the left side of the results screen.
- Citation Tool: Access the citation tool by clicking on the title of an article or record, click on the file icon labeled "Cite" located in the "Tools" bar, then select the correct citation style from the dropdown menu.
- Saving Records: All saving options can be seen by clicking on the title of an article, viewing the detailed record, then looking at the righthand bar labeled "Tools." EBSCO allows users to print, save PDFs, email articles and create permanent links to the record.
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Contains a comprehensive backfile (current issues not available) of scholarly journals, current open access articles, and select current scholarly journal subscriptions spanning more than 20 disciplines including business & economics, education, science, history, and language & literature - all in full text
MedLine 1966 - present This link opens in a new window
Premier source for bibliographic and abstract coverage of biomedical literature. Includes information from Index Medicus, Index to Dental Literature, and International Nursing, as well as other sources of coverage in the areas of allied health, biological and physical sciences, humanities and information science as they relate to medicine and health care, communication disorders, population biology, and reproductive biology.
- Basic Search: Preform a basic search by entering keywords into the search bar then clicking on the green "SEARCH" button.
- Advanced Search: Click on the blue "Advanced Search" link below the search bar to add filters and multiple keywords before you begin searching.
- Boolean Logic & Filters: All EBCSO hosted databases allow you to narrow and expand your search using Boolean operators and filters. Access them in the advanced search option or on the left side of the results screen.
- Citation Tool: Access the citation tool by clicking on the title of an article or record, click on the file icon labeled "Cite" located in the "Tools" bar, then select the correct citation style from the dropdown menu.
- Saving Records: All saving options can be seen by clicking on the title of an article, viewing the detailed record, then looking at the righthand bar labeled "Tools." EBSCO allows users to print, save PDFs, email articles and create permanent links to the record.
PubMed Central This link opens in a new window
Digital archive of full-text journal articles in the from the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), developed and managed by NIH's National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) in the National Library of Medicine (NLM). This resource also includes content from NASA's PubSpace repository.

Tips

WestSearch may be good place to start to find a few full-text articles to start you off.
- Limit your results to peer-reviewed.
- Remember, this source prioritizes content we have in full-text. You will need to go deeper than that.
If you see a certain database come up repeatedly, a search in that database might be helpful.
- Many of the databases are pre-limited to full-text. Be sure to uncheck that box to get abstracts and citations.
Set up your Library Links in Google Scholar to get the most out of it (if you are working off-campus.)
- The links to WCSU full-text will usually take you right to the article, but you can drill down if they don't.
- Use Journal Finder to double-check those with no links or citations from bibliographies.
Google Scholar has some huge advantages: links to bibliographies for articles, links to related articles.
Keep ILL open in another tab to make it easy to copy and paste citation info for requests.
- Be sure to check Journal Finder before making requests!

BIO 260: Modes of Scientific Communication

Instruction & Outreach Librarian

Workshop Agenda - Spring 2018

Topics to be Covered

Recommended Databases

Tips

Be patient and stay organized. Consider creating a spreadsheet with the citation info for articles you find with added notes!