Barnard College Library

Research Guide for Biology: Summer 2005
Librarian: Lois Coleman

Barnard Library | Columbia LibraryWeb | CLIO Library Catalog | Databases List

FINDING ARTICLES IN BIOLOGY

Finding articles using an index or database is a two-step process:
1.  Find citations to relevant articles;
2.  Find the articles themselves, by clicking on "e-link" to find the full text of the articles online, or searching CLIO using the journal titles, to find out which library has print copies.

There are many databases other than those listed below that can be useful in the field of biology; for further help, ask at the Reference Desk on the second floor of the library.  These databases/indexes are all on the Databases list on the Barnard Library homepage or Columbia LibraryWeb:

Agricola
  • an OCLC FirstSearch Database with citations and abstracts for articles in animal science, chemistry, energy, entomology, food science, forestry, life sciences, natural resources, and plant diseases, published from 1970 to the present
  • use quotes to search for a phrase
  • for truncation, use * (phenotyp* will find phenotype or phenotypic)
  • FirstSearch also includes Medline; you can switch databases and repeat your searches by using the drop-down list next to "Search in database:"

Biological Abstracts
  • an Ovid database with citations and abstracts for articles in biology, plant and animal science, ecology, paleontology, pharmacology, biochemistry, biophysics and bioengineering, published from 1969 to the present
  • multiple words together are taken as a phrase
  • for truncation, use $ (phenotyp$ will find phenotype or phenotypic)
  • for an Author, Journal or Article Title search, click on the icons at the top
  • to combine previous searches, click on the "Combine" icon at the top
  • Ovid also includes Medline; you can switch databases and repeat your searches by clicking on "Change Database" at the top

JSTOR
  • full text scholarly journals from various publishers, from their first issue up to a few years ago
  • useful for historical research; contains ecology and botany journals dating back to the early twentieth century that are not indexed in other databases
  • no issues from the last 3 to 6 years, depending on the journal
  • multiple words together are taken as a phrase
Medline
  • an Ovid database with citations and abstracts for articles in biomedicine, including the allied health fields and the biological and physical sciences, published from 1966 to the present
  • search functions are the same as for Biological Abstracts
  • you can switch between Ovid databases and repeat your searches using the "Change Database" icon at the top

Science Citation Index
  • a Thomson-ISI Web of Science database useful for determining if any articles have cited a specific article or book, or to examine the references of an article
  • use "General Search" to look up citations
  • limit document type to "Review" to obtain articles that provide an overview of a topic
  • for an author search, use last name then first initial followed by an asterisk, e.g. mckay j*
  • to find a journal whose title is abbreviated in this database, use the database Jake or the Web site All That JAS: Journal Abbreviation Sources to find the full journal title

 

LIBRARY LOCATIONS AT COLUMBIA

 

BORROW DIRECT, ILL, AND SCIENCE FAST TRACK DELIVERY SERVICE  
If you cannot find the journal you need online or at any Columbia library, these services enable you to obtain books and journal articles from other libraries.  

Borrow Direct
  • for books only - a consortium of the university libraries of Columbia, Brown, Cornell, Dartmouth, Penn, Princeton and Yale
  • a link to a request form is available on the Request It page on Library Web; you need your Columbia ID and password for access
  • takes about 4 days

Inter-Library Loan
  • for books, dissertations or articles
  • also on the Request It page on Library Web; you need your Columbia ID and password for access
  • you can also go in person to the ILL Office at 505 Butler Library; the phone number is 212-854-3542 and the email address is ill@libraries.cul.columbia.edu
  • use ILL for requesting books or non-science journal articles
  • takes about 2 weeks

Science Libraries' Fast Track Delivery Service
  • also available on the Request It page
  • you can request articles from journals that Columbia does not own in the areas of science, technology, engineering and medicine
  • articles from journals at the Health Sciences Library can be ordered
  • you can submit the on-line request form or fill out a printed request form at a Columbia branch science library
  • when the article arrives, the relevant Columbia branch library will notify you by telephone or e-mail so that you can pick it up

 

ENDNOTE

EndNote, a program that helps you to organize and use references from databases and catalogs, is available for downloading, free of charge, to all current Barnard and Columbia students from the AcIS software server at http://www.columbia.edu/acis/software/endnote. 

The page "EndNote Bibliographic Software at Barnard and Columbia" gives an introduction to the use of EndNote. 

 

WEB RESOURCES
By doing a Web search on your topic you may be able to find bibliographies, names of researchers, protocols and other information about current research.

Here are some links to useful Web resources in biology:
  • The American Museum of Natural History homepage
  • Columbia's Biology Library provides a list of Biology Internet Resources
  • The Ecology WWW page has a huge collection of links to Web sites on biology and ecology
  • The National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) is maintained by the Center for Biological Informatics of the U.S. Geological Survey
  • PrimateLit provides bibliographic access to the scientific literature on nonhuman primates
  • PubMed is the National Library of Medicine database of citations and abstracts for articles in MEDLINE, additional life science journals, and the integrated molecular biology databases included in the National Center for Biotechnology Information retrieval system (including DNA and protein sequences, 3-D protein structure data, and assemblies of complete genomes) and has links to articles which usually require payment for full text; however, Columbia subscribes to most of these journals, so use Columbia databases instead to obtain full text
  • The Tree of Life is a project containing information about the diversity of organisms on Earth, their history and characteristics; the information is linked together in the form of an evolutionary tree
  • The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service homepage includes links to reports, news releases, and an Online Library
  • Yale University Library - Biology Resources lists databases, search tools, organizations, and interesting reference sources

 

CONSULTATIONS WITH REFERENCE LIBRARIANS                                       
Click here to complete a form you can e-mail to the library requesting a consultation on your research, or come to the Reference Desk on the second floor.  We'll be happy to assist you in using our resources.
You can also contact a reference librarian by sending an e-mail to refdesk@barnard.edu or by calling 212-854-3953.

Last Modified 6/22/05
Lois Coleman
Reference Librarian
Barnard College Library