Biology
Article Databases
Listed below are a few key databases that contain biology-related scholarly articles, conference proceedings, and reviews. Depending upon your topic, you may find these other biology databases useful. If you aren't sure where to begin, ask your librarian!
- Biological Sciences Collection This link opens in a new windowThis listing provides access to a large number of database which comprise the Biological Sciences Collection from ProQuest. The collection covers biochemistry, genetics, and virology, as well as a number of other topics. Citations from thousands of journals and conferences are provided.
- Academic Search Ultimate This link opens in a new windowA multi-disciplinary article database which offers information in many areas of academic study, Academic Search Ultimate focuses on a range of subjects including biology, chemistry, engineering, physics, psychology, religion/theology, and more. This article database is a good place to learn and find successful search terms, subject-specific vocabulary, as well as to determine what is available in different research areas with which you may not be familiar at first. If you cannot get access to this database via Google Chrome search engine, please switch to another such as FireFox, etc.
- Web of Science This link opens in a new windowSearch the world's leading scholarly journals, books, and proceedings in the science, social sciences, and arts and humanities and navigate the full citation network. Coverage is 1900 - present.
Science Citation Index Expanded (1900 - present)
Social Sciences Citation Index (1900 - present)
Arts & Humanities Citation Index (1975 - present)
Emerging Sources Citation Index (2015 - present)
Search Strategies
Boolean Operators are used to connect and define the relationship between your search terms. When searching electronic databases, you can use Boolean Operators to either broaden or narrow your search results. The three Boolean Operators are AND, OR and NOT.
Boolean Operators
Boolean operators are simple words (AND, OR and NOT) used as conjunctions to combine or exclude keywords in a search, resulting in more focused search results.
OR
- Broadens or expands your search
- Is used to retrieve like terms or synonyms
- Finds all items with either teenager OR adolescent
- In set theory and math, "union" is inclusive "OR".
"OR" = teenager U adolescent
AND
- Narrows or limits your search
- Used to retrieve unrelated terms
- Finds items with both diet and children
- In set theory and math, "intersection" is "AND".
"AND" = diet ∩ children
NOT
- Narrows or limits your search
- Finds the term "spider" not "monkey"
- Use the NOT operator with caution
- May eliminate relevant records
Note:
AND is the default or implied operator in Usearch, Google, Scopus, PubMed, EBSCOhost, and most search interfaces.
"ecotourism sustainable" is the same as "ecotourism AND sustainable"
In Usearch, EBSCOhost, SCOPUS, and PubMed, Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) must be entered in upper case.
Phrase Searching
Phrase searching is using quotations.
For instance:
"international olympic committee"
"Utah tennis"
It finds the exact phrase, and items with words in the order typed. One exception is Scopus. Scopus uses curly brackets or braces for {exact phrase} searching. In Scopus, quotes are used for "loose/approximate phrase" searching.
Truncation Stemming
Truncation or stemming is using an asterisk *. It is also known as a wildcard. Truncation is a symbol that retrieves all the suffixes or endings of a word.
For instance:
school* retrieves school, schools, schooling, schooled, etc.
latin* retrieves latina, latino, latinx, latinos, latinas, latin, latinization, etc.
Note:
In the Library of Congress, % (percent sign) is a single character wildcard and ? (question mark) is truncation for multiple characters.
Nesting
Nesting is commonly used when combining more than one Boolean operator (OR, AND). Most search interfaces search left to right. Using parentheses in a search changes the order of operation.
For instance:
(moral* OR ethic*) AND (assisted suicide OR euthanasia)
(ski OR skis OR skiing OR snowboard*) AND video*
Proximity or Adjacency Operators
Proximity operators allow you to find one word within a certain distance of another.
With (w), Near (n), Next (n), or Pre (p) are common proximity operators.
Note:
Read the database help to see if proximity operators can be used in your searches.
Thanks to Alfred Mowdood for authoring these instructions.
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