Research Guides: Biology and Environmental Sciences: Databases

Databases

Listed below are databases with a primary focus on the biological and environmental sciences. Some, like Academic Search Premier, are general in their coverage of the literature but contain enough information on most topics to make it worth searching. Others are focused on a particular area of science, like Greenfile which covers environmental topics.

Academic Search Premier (EBSCOhost)
Click the red star above for a brief tutorial on using advance search for Academic Search Premier, Our largest and most comprehensive database. A multidisciplinary research database providing access to acclaimed full-text journals, magazines and other valuable resources.
Google Scholar
Click the red star to watch a brief tutorial of how to use Google scholar. Google Scholar searches peer-reviewed academic journals, books, papers, and theses from academic publishers, professional societies, university presses and other scholarly organizations.
If you have already configured your Scholar preferences*, or if your on campus, you will see links to the right of some results that say FullText@Trexler Library. This link lets you look for a version of the item that's available through Trexler Library database subscriptions.

For other items, you may see a link that says HTML or PDF. Clicking on those links may take you to a freely available version of the article on the open web.

Some search results will have neither links. When this happens, try clicking on the article title. Sometimes this will still get you to a version of the article.

If you find that you are unable to access the article, you can submit an Interlibrary Loan Request.

*Configuring Preferences in Google Scholar: Once you've logged into your Gmail Account, go to the Google Scholar homepage, and click on the settings link.

On the left side of the screen, you will see a button that says "Library links".

Clicking this link will take you to the "Library access links" search box.
Type DeSales into the search box, and click on the blue magnifying glass button to the right.

When the page refreshes, check the box that says "DeSales University - Trexler Library - FullText@TrexlerLibrary", and update your settings by clicking the blue save button.

Your browser will remember this setting, so the next time you go to Google Scholar, you will see links in your search results whether you're on campus or off. Note that if you use multiple web browsers or computers, you may need to configure this setting for each browser you use.

If you have any questions about configuring your Google Scholar settings, or about using Google Scholar in your research, Ask a Librarian for Help!
National Center for Biotechnology Information
Established in 1988 as a national resource for molecular biology information, NCBI creates public databases, conducts research in computational biology, develops software tools for analyzing genome data, and disseminated biomedical information - all for the better understanding of molecular processes affecting human health and disease.
This site is a gateway to the many article databases, tutorials, downloads and tools supported by the National Center for Biotechnology Information at the National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health.
Public LIbrary of Science (PLoS)
A non-profit organization of scientists and physicians committed to making the world's scientific and medical literature a freely available public resource. To demonstrate that this publishing model will be successful for the publication of the very best research, PLoS publishes its own journals. PLoS Biology launched its first issue on October 13, 2003, in print and online.
PubMed
Click the red star for a tutorial on using the Advanced Search Builder in PubMed.
PubMed, a service of the National Library of Medicine, comprises over 28 million citations for biomedical literature from MEDLINE, life science journals, and online books. It is global in its scope of coverage and it ranks as the best sources for medical and life science information.
ScienceDirect
is a leading scientific database offering journal articles from more than 3,800 peer-reviewed journals and book chapters from more than 37,000 books. Select content is available in full-text. For articles without full text, click on the "Check for Full Text" link at the bottom of the article record, and then follow directions to link to an inter-library loan request form.
Contains more than 240,000 open-access articles.

Tutorials

Google Scholar Search Tips
Want to know how to search Google Scholar effectively? Find your answers here!
PubMed Help Page
This page is loaded with YouTube tutorials, FAQ's and answers, super short tutorials, examples, and more....
Science Direct Support Center
These two pages contain answers to 17 most often asked questions about ScienceDirect, including directions on where to find tutorials on how to search ScienceDirect.

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