Research Guide for BISC111: Organismal Biology
The following resources may be helpful in completing research assignments for the course. Feel free to contact me or email AskUs for further help.
Irene Laursen (ilaursen), x3082
Contents:
New!
- Maximum of two $300 awards for a paper or project of any length from a 100 or 200 level Wellesley College course
- One $750 award for a paper or project of any length from a 300 level Wellesley College course, excluding 360s, and 370s
Deadline: April 1, 2009
ScienceNow - AAAS news service
ScienceDaily - Plants & Animals
Quick lookups
AccessScience - online scientific dictionary
BioTech Life Science Dictionary - botany, cell biology, genetics, etc.
Biological Sciences introductory essays or definitions - Adjust search field to 'Entry Heading'Facts on File Dictionary of Biology - Science Reference QH302.5 .F38 1999
Henderson's Dictionary of Biological Terms - Science Reference QH302.5 .H65 1995Longer explanations
AccessScience - scientific encyclopedia
Dictionary of Gardening - Science Reference q SB450.95 .D53 1992 - Royal Horticultural Society
Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia - profiles of single-celled organisms to primates
New York Botanical Garden Illustrated Encyclopedia of Horticulture - Science Reference f SB317.58 .E94
Wellesley College Library Catalog
- tip: in the library catalog, start with keyword > choose a useful book > Full Record tab - follow the subject links to find more on that topic
- tip: 'Full Record' tab displays Library holdings for a print journal or serial ['Lib has']
Online Texts
Kimball's Biology Pages - Table of Contents
Introduction to Biology - MIT OpenCourseWare
The following databases provide either full-text articles or citations (information about when and where the peer-reviewed article was published).
- Use the Find It! @ Wellesley
link from each citation to search one or more electronic journal sources or to search our Library Catalog.
- If Wellesley College cannot access the article, use the 'Find It' link to Interlibrary Loan, which automatically links the requestor to a form to submit for either
- NExpress (several nearby libraries, often arrives in 1-3 days) or
- ILL (thousands of libraries worldwide, arrives in 2 days - 2 weeks).
Scientific articles
JSTOR
- Online articles reach from vol. 1 to 3 to 5 years ago
- Focus on 'Articles' [Type] in English [Article language]
- Select Biological Sciences Subject Cluster [more than 160 journals]Biological Sciences databases
- Includes multiple life sciences databases including Agricola
- Coverage of articles indexed 1970-present
- Many abstracts available 1980's onward - Advanced Search HelpPub Med
- All aspects of biomedicine
- Many abstracts available 1970's-present
- Limited indexing without abstracts for pre-1967 back to 1949 entries
- PubMed Basics - PubMed HelpWeb of Science
- 1900-present
- Interdisciplinary database
- Keyword/title and citation searching
- Many abstracts 1991-present
Biodiversity and Ecology
WWW Virtual Library - Biosciences
Web of Species - biodiversity at Wellesley College and in New England
World Atlas of Biodiversity - UN Environmental Programme - World Conservation Monitoring CenterPlant Biology and Horticulture
Plants Database - US Dept of Agriculture
PlantFinder Search - Missouri Botanical Garden
Gardening Resources - Cornell UniversityImages
Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia - be sure to cite the sourceCiting Image Sources
You must cite non-trivial images when you use them for academic purposes. Non-trivial images include copyrighted and licensed materials (e.g., Creative Commons license) that add value to the content of your work. When citing images, list the author's name (if known), image title, its source, and publication date. If you find the image online, include the URL and the date on which you accessed it.CSE Style online - use the pulldown menu to view examples of CSE-formatted citations
You generally do not have to cite images if you created them, or if they were published prior to or on December 31, 1922, or they are royalty free clip art, such as those provided by Microsoft Office. When you are not sure if an image needs citation, it is best to exercise caution and cite the source.
How to Evaluate and Cite Sources
**Remember, you must evaluate web resources that you find with a search engine the same way you would evaluate print sources**
General criteria
Accuracy: How factual is the web page? Are the facts well-documented?
Authority: What are the professional credentials of the authors? Can you recognize the difference between a webpage author and a webmaster?
Objectivity: Pros and cons? Are there conflicting interests? Is the page advocating a cause? Who is the intended audience?
Currency: Is the page being updated regularly? How current is it now?
Coverage: Does the page require special software to view it? Is there a fee to view it, or is it free? Is the information presented cited correctly?
Ease of Use: Is the page easy to navigate? Are directions straightforward? Is advertising clearly labeled?More on Evaluation/Critical Thinking for Web Surfing
Citing sources
Sciences: Documenting Sources with CSE Style [Author-Year]
tip: scroll down to the CSE reference list, use the pulldown menu to view examples of CSE-formatted citations- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
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