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Reference and Circulating Materials
Government Documents
Journals & Other Periodicals
Databases
Internet Resources
Writing Your Paper and Citing Your Research
The Marvin K. Peterson Library has a wide array of resources for research in biology. These resources include print materials as well as electronic periodicals, periodical indexes, and research databases. This guide will help students in their studies at the University.
This guide presents a selection of useful resources, both ours and the Internet sources we list. Use our catalog to find more resources, and search the Internet -- carefully and critically -- for additional websites. In addition to this specific guide on biology, we also have more general guides that may prove useful, such as Finding Articles, Using the UNH Library Catalog, and citation Style Guides, among others.
You can find this and all Library Guides on the library's home page. Come to the Information Desk for assistance with your research, call us at (203) 932-7189 or e-mail us.
Please Note: This online guide contains direct links to databases and websites. To locate any of the sites listed if you have printed out this guide, simply type in the name of the organization in Google or another search engine to find a link to the site.
Go to the Peterson Library home page and take a few minutes to familiarize yourself with it. Go directly to the library home page or start at the UNH website and click on "Library." There are several important links on the left side of our home page, including the following:
Use the library catalog to find circulating and reference materials, including books, audio-visual holdings, government documents, and periodical titles (for periodical articles, see the "Journals" section, below). Our catalog uses the Library of Congress (LC) classification system and subject headings. LC assigns call numbers (letters and numerals) according to the book's primary subject. The Q call numbers are for the sciences and R call numbers are for medicine. More specifically for biology: QH is for natural history/biology; QK for botany; QL for zoology; QM for human anatomy; QP for physiology; and QR for microbiology. Useful materials throughout the collection will be found in other areas with differing primary subjects.
Quick search tips:
- Truncate with "?": biol? will get biological, biologists, biology, etc.
- Put phrases in " ": "molecular biology."
- Sort results by "Publish date descending" to get newest items at the top of the list.
- Click on the "Bibliographic" tab to determine the LC subject headings for an item
and then click on those headings as links to additional material with the same
subject.
- Always click on the "Linked Resources" tab to check for electronic access for single
items. In multiple-result searches, the URL box at the right of the screen is a
reminder to look for a web link on the next page (or click on "Linked Resources").
For additional search tips, consult the library guide on Using the UNH Library Catalog (OPAC).
UNH students, faculty and staff can use our Interlibrary Loan (ILL) service for materials we do not own. ILL request forms for books and articles are available at the library Information Desk, and online from the library's website. You should complete a separate ILL request form for each item requested. Bibliographic citations should be as accurate and complete as possible. Incorrect or incomplete information, such as abbreviations or lack of a publication date, will slow down receipt of material. For more information on Interlibrary Loan, click here.
Selected Reference and Circulating Materials
Reference materials, such as encyclopedias, dictionaries and statistical compilations are a good place to start research. They are kept in the reference stacks on the library's entry level and can be used in the library. Circulating materials are shelved in open stacks on the second and third levels of the library and may be borrowed. The following is a sample of the books available. "Ref." before the call number means that the book is kept in the Reference stacks.
Animal Physiology: Adaptation and Environment. QP31.2.S363 1979
Biochemical and Physiological Aspects of Human Nutrition. Ref. QP141 .B57 1999
Biology (Macmillan, 2002) [electronic resource], from Gale Virtual Reference Library
Biostatistics for the biological and health sciences QH323.5 .T75 2006
Biology : the Unity and Diversity of Life. QH308.2 .S72 1998
Cecil Textbook of Medicine. Ref. RC46 .C423 1996b. Circulating copy also available under RC46 .C423 1996b
Cloning Human Beings: A Report and Recommendations of the National Bioethics Advisory Commission. QH442.2.U56 1997
Encyclopedia of Clinical Toxicology. Ref. RA1193 .R67 2002
The Fragile Species. R708 .T48 1992
Gale Encyclopedia of Cancer (Gale, 2006) [electronic resource], from Gale Virtual Reference Library
Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine. Ref. RC41 .G35; also online from Gale Virtual Reference Library.
Habitats and Ecosystems: An Encyclopedia of Endangered America. Ref. QH76 .C73
Human Anatomy and Physiology. Ref. QP31.2.M36 1991
Life, The Science of Biology. QH308.2.P87 1987
Nutritional Oncology Ref. RC258.45.N886 1999
Roots of Life: A Layman's Guide to Genes, Evolution, and the Ways of Cells. QH309 .H63
PDR - Physicians' Desk Reference. Ref. RS75 .P5
Process Dynamics in Environmental Systems. TD177 .W43 1996
Psycho-oncology. Ref. RC262 .P7825 1998
Virology. Ref. QR360 .V5125 1990
The Marvin K. Peterson Library has been a Federal Depository Library since 1971. Government documents have been listed in our online catalog since 2000, and many publications are available online from the catalog. Click on the "Linked Resources" tab at the top of the catalog record screen to get to the live link to the publication.
For documents received before 2000, use other online and print indexes. You may also consult our library guide on government documents, also available in print at the Information Desk. To use this collection, come to the Information Desk, where a staff member will assist you. We will retrieve documents for you, help you find documents not listed in our catalog, and direct you to other resources.
Journals and Other Periodicals
Periodical articles from magazines, newspapers, and scholarly journals are a valuable source of information in all research fields. Journals available from the UNH Peterson Library on the home page is a listing of most of the periodical titles, current and historical, to which you have access through the library, including print and microform materials, as well as periodicals available electronically. Enter your 16-digit UNH ID number when requested. Use Journals available from the UNH Peterson Library to find:
- Single journals or articles: If you have the citation to an article, type the title of the journal into the top search box. Results will show which databases contain the journal electronically and give you a list of available issues to search through. Available "UNH Library Holdings" are also given to enable you to find and/or copy the article in the library. Current and older issues of most of our print periodicals, now interfiled in a single alphabetical arrangement, are on the lower level. Ask for current newspapers and microform holdings at the Circulation Desk.
- Lists of journals by keyword or subject: Use the top search option, with the drop-down box set to "Title contains all words" and search with title keywords (e.g., biological, biology, etc.). You can also use the lower drop-down search box and select subjects like "Health & Biological Sciences" and the listed subcategories. These methods allow you to identify periodicals in a field and browse current issues of these periodicals, either online or in the library.
-If you need a list of articles on a subject, use the journal indexes found in this guide in the Databases section. For more on searching for periodical articles, consult our library guide on Finding Articles.
The most efficient way to find articles by subject is to use an index that searches the contents of many journals at one time. Increasingly, electronic indexes offer the full text of the article as well as the citation and abstract. In addition, our Serials Solutions journal-linking service will frequently offer you "Find full text"-type links to other databases or tell you the availability of periodicals in the library. Our electronic journal indexes are listed below.
Enter your 16-digit UNH ID number when requested. Select databases by title or provider, or use the Subject List. Use the Annotated List of Databases on the library home page for search tips, publications included, user's guides, tutorials, and links for each database.
Listed below are the databases mostly likely to be of use in Biology. Some government-produced ones have universal free access, which is indicated. For a complete list of our electronic resources, see our Annotated List of Databases.
♦General Databases:
CREDO Reference This collection of both general and subject specific, full text reference books is helpful in providing background information on a wide variety of topics. This database includes dictionaries, encyclopedias, census information, images, biographies and more.
Dissertations is a database containing citations and abstracts for dissertations and theses produced in North America and Europe. All academic disciplines are covered. In-library access only, via FirstSearch.
ECO [Electronic Collections On-line] is a special collection of online scholarly journals, all available full-text. In-library access only, via FirstSearch.
Academic OneFile, General OneFile, Expanded Academic ASAP and General Reference Center Gold from iCONN and Gale are some of the best multi-subject databases available. An additional resource for Spanish speakers is Informe: Revistas en Espanol.
SIRS Researcher is a database for social, scientific, economic, and political issues worldwide. In-library access only, via FirstSearch.
WilsonSelectPlus carries full text articles in science, humanities, education and business. In-library access only, via FirstSearch.
♦Science Databases:
AGRICOLA is a database of materials in various formats acquired by the National Agricultural Library (NAL) and cooperating institutions, focusing chiefly on agriculture, forestry and animal science. Access in library, via FirstSearch or universal free access directly from the NAL.
BioDigest provides detailed abstracts and some full text articles from many journals in the life sciences, environmental sciences, botany, zoology, health and medicine. Written in non-technical style. Access in library only, via FirstSearch.
BioMedCentral is an independent on-line publishing house which provides free access to the peer-reviewed journals and articles that it publishes.
CINAHL with Full Text (Cumulative Index to Nursing & Allied Health Literature) is the premier database in the nursing, biomedicine, and allied health fields. Also includes books, dissertations, educational software and audiovisuals.
Directory of Open Access Journals: Biology & Life Sciences. Freely available online journals organized by subject. Hosted at Lund University in Sweden, DOAR is a co-project of SPARC (Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition) and the Open Access Institute, Budapest.
E-Books for Colleges/Gale Virtual Reference Library from Gale and iCONN. Access to several multi-volume reference resources, including Gale's encyclopedias of: Alternative Medicine; Medicine; Cancer; and Genetic Disorders. Also includes Beacham's Guide to the Endangered Species of North America, first edition; and Biology.
Encyclopedia of Dietary Supplements. This resource provides details on the vast market of over-the-counter supplements of most significance in today's nutritional products marketplace.
Encyclopedia of Science and Technology Online. Access to illustrated articles from the latest edition from McGraw-Hill. This resource also includes research updates from the McGraw-Hill Yearbooks, the latest Science News® headlines, scientific biographies, and links to evaluated and approved web sites.
GEOBASE offers worldwide coverage of over 2000 sources including journals, books, conference proceedings, and reports on geography, geology and ecology. Access in library only, via FirstSearch.
GeoRef from EBSCO is another extensive database produced by the American Geological Institute covering over 3000 publications, primarily in the geosciences, but with much to offer in biological studies as well.
Handbook of Chemistry and Physics Online is the online version of the CRC handbook. Also available online from our Library Catalog's Linked Resources tab. Features include a table of contents and text-wide search capability. Section 7 is on biochemistry.
Health and Wellness Resource Center provides instant access to carefully compiled and trusted medical reference materials. Includes nearly 400 health/medical journals, hundreds of pamphlets, 700+ health-related videos, and articles from 2,200 general interest publications in addition to a broad collection of Thomson Gale reference titles.
HighWire Press, from Stanford University is assisting in the online publication of 1,927,310 free full-text articles and 4,823,048 total articles. There are 13 sites with free trial periods, and 43 completely free sites. 254 sites have free back issues, and 1079 sites have pay per view.
INFOMINE, Biological, Agricultural & Medical Sciences. A University of California site organizing by topic freely available scholarly Internet databases and web sites.
IRIS (The Illinois Researcher Information Service) provides a database of funding opportunities in every field from agriculture to zoology. Features include an "Expertise Service," which enables faculty to post research interests and achievements, and an "Alert Service," which informs you of funding opportunities matching the profile you've entered.
National Academies Press. Provides free online access to more than 4,000 science and medicine e-books, including works on biology and life sciences.
Open Science Directory About 13000 scientific journals are now available in the 'Open Science Directory'. When all the special program journals will be included, the Open Science Directory will contain more than 20000 titles.
PubMed is the online version of Index Medicus, which covers over 4,500 biomedical journals. PubMed is another service of the National Library of Medicine and National Institutes of Health.
Science Reference Center is helpful for science research projects. Included in this database are reference books, journals, biographies and images. Topics covered: biology, chemistry, earth, space, the environment, health & medicine, physics, technology and wildlife.
ScienceDirect is the digital library of Elsevier Science, a leading publisher of scientific, technical and health information. Some full-text articles are available (for journals to which we subscribe) as are sign-up privileges for ContentsDirect, a free table of contents e-mail alerting service.
Science.gov is "a gateway to authoritative selected science information provided by U.S. government agencies, including research and development results"--from the website. This database allows you to search simultaneously across several Agency databases. Includes access to full-text articles from their reports and publications.
Scirus: For Scientific Information Only. An Internet search engine designed to retrieve scientific information.
WileyInterscience is an index to the publications of John Wiley & Sons, which includes 1400 leading scientific, medical and technical journals. Register to search the site for free, and use the Journals available from the UNH Peterson Library link on our home page for our journals.
Selected Internet Resources
AccessExcellence is part of the non-profit National Health Museum, "Access Excellence, launched in 1993, is a national educational program that provides health, biology and life science teachers access to their colleagues, scientists, and critical sources of new scientific information via the World Wide Web."
Biodiversity and Biological Collection is a directory of resources about biodiversity, biological collections, and associated software. Links to hundreds of resources, with general information on specific species and images of plant and animal life.
Biology Links is Harvard University's excellent site with links to free online biological journals and articles, data banks and tables, selected model organism databases, software directories and more.
Biozone is a biology education website that offers over six hundred links to sites covering such topics as biology, biotechnology, health and disease, evolution, and microbiology.
Kimball's Biology Pages is an online textbook created by Dr. John W. Kimball, based on his published biology textbook and enhanced with hypertext features and updated information.
Librarians' Internet Index Linking directly to Science: Biology, the site is further divided into more than 20 categories, such as Animals, Biodiversity, and Microbiology.
MIT Open Courseware The Biology Department at MIT offers an extensive listing of undergraduate and graduate level courses.
National Center for Biotechnology Information, part of the National Institutes of Health, was established in 1988 as a national resource for molecular biology information. According to its website, NCBI "creates public databases, conducts research in computational biology, develops software tools for analyzing genome data, and disseminates biomedical information."
Online Biology Book Created by Michael J. Farabee, Ph.D., and is hosted by Estrella Mountain Community College, in Avondale, Arizona. The text items are modified lecture outlines developed over many years of teaching college-level introductory biology.
American Institute of Biological Sciences, Careers in the Biological Sciences
The Career Services Center in Kaplan 210 offers assistance with the job search process and résumés.
The Occupational Outlook Handbook outlines working opportunities for Biological Scientists and those in related occupations.
Writing The Paper and Citing Your Research
The Library produces guides to several citation styles, and our general style guide includes links to additional online guides. These guides are available near the Information Desk and online from our home page. The Center for Learning Resources in Maxcy Hall rooms 106-110 assists students writing papers.
Any questions? Come to the Library, call us at (203) 932-7189 or e-mail us.
rev. KB 8/08