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BISC109: Human Biology

The following resources should be helpful for research you will be doing for the course. Feel free to contact me or any of my colleagues for further help. Irene Laursen (ilaursen), x3082

Contents:

New!

Student Library Research Award

  • 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, 2008

Offcampus Access · Databases A-Z · Research Guides by Subject | by Course · Reference Books Online · Library Catalog

Find background

Research cycle
Cycle of scientific literature - primary, secondary, tertiary ([no date given]; http://iws.ohiolink.edu/chemistry/info/cycle.html Accessed August 31, 2007)
Peer-review (Linux Information Project (c) 2005; http://linfo.org/peer_review.html Accessed September 9, 2007)
Open Access (Peter Suber, (CC-A 2.5 license), December 29, 2004; http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/brief.htm Accessed September 9, 2007)

Reference works (online or print) can be used to acquire basic information on an unfamiliar concept or to gather ideas for your topic.

Quick lookups:
AccessScience - dictionary and encyclopedia
Deciphering Medspeak - Medical Library Association
Melloni's Illustrated Medical Dictionary - Science Reference q R121 .D76 2002
Oxford Reference Online - More than 100 dictionaries - Adjust pulldown menu of search field to 'Entry Heading'

Longer explanations:
Encyclopedia of Human Biology - 2nd ed - Science Reference q QP11 .E53 1997
Encyclopedia of Human Nutrition Online
Encyclopedia of Sports Science - Science Reference q GV558 .E53 1997

Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine - 3rd ed - 2006
Gale Encyclopedia of Alternative Medicine - 2nd ed - 2005

Online Guides:
Merck Manual of Medical Information Home Edition
- human physical and emotional disorders - especially diagnosis, treatment, prevention and control
Merck Manual of Health & Aging - medical, social, legal, and ethical issues of human aging

Drugs:
PDR: Physicians' Desk Reference - Science Reference RS51 .P5 - manufacturers' drug descriptions incl side effects, dosage, warnings, etc - use with caution
PDRhealth.com - drug information - clinical trials - caution: some unlabelled advertising
RxList - more than 4,000 drugs available in the USA or close to US FDA approval

News:
BBC Science & Nature: Human Body & Mind
World Health News - Harvard Univ School of Public Health

MedlinePlus: News by Health Topic

Find books

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: to see the subscription details for a print journal or serial ['Lib has'] > Full Record tab.

Find journal articles

The following databases provide either full-text articles or citations (information about when and where the peer-reviewed article was published).

  • Once you have a citation for an article, use the Find It! @ Wellesleylink from each citation to search one or more electronic journal sources through the Wellesley College Library Catalog.
  • Use the name of the journal as the title and make sure you look at the dates covered carefully!
  • If Wellesley does not own the article, you can request it via Interlibrary Loan (ILL).

Popular & scientific articles - great places to start your search:
Academic Search Premier - dates vary, from mid-1970s to within 6-12 months of present date - Off-campus Link
Expanded Academic ASAP - 1980s to present - Off-campus Link

Scientific American Archive - 1993-present - interdisciplinary science magazine - overview - Off-campus Link

Google Scholar - multidisciplinary - covers journal articles, theses, books, preprints - complements but does not replace other searching - use with caution - unspecified time coverage & breadth/depth of sources - Advanced Scholar Search Tips

More databases - cover peer-reviewed articles
PubMed - 1950-present - article abstracts - all fields of medicine and biomedicine - links to more NLM (National Library of Medicine) resources - PubMed Basics brochure
Science Direct - indexes more than 2,000 journals, often from volume one; online articles available for titles with green icons from 1995- present - Help pages
Web of Science - interdisciplinary subject searching - physical, life, and social sciences - also can search for articles that cite known journal articles or books - 1900-present - Tutorial - Off-campus Link

Please consult a Science Librarian for more help.

Key web sites

Consumer Health - College Students
Go Ask Alice! - from Columbia University health educators - Q & A format - nonjudgmental, factual answers
Noah: New York Online Access to Health, Bilingual [English and Spanish] site - content provided by librarians and health professionals working together
Health Tips for Wellesley Women - Wellesley College Health Service - Student Services

General Consumer Health
IntelliHealth - Harvard Medical School and the Univ of Pennsylvania Dental School - ads clearly labelled
WholeHealthMD.com - integrative medicine = combination of traditional/conventional medicine and alternative/complementary health care
healthfinder.gov - reliable health information for informed laypersons - no advertising or sponsorships

Health Topics - MedlinePlus - reputable sources for healthcare consumers - exhaustive list of common medical disorders and diseases - no advertising

**Remember, you must evaluate web resources that you find with a search engine the same way you would evaluate print sources**

General criteria by which to evaluate webpages

  1. Accuracy: How factual is the web page? Are the facts well-documented?
  2. Authority: What are the professional credentials of the authors? Can you recognize the difference between a webpage author and a webmaster?
  3. Objectivity: Pros and cons? Are there conflicting interests? Is the page advocating a cause? Who is the intended audience?
  4. Currency: Is the page being updated regularly? How current is it now?
  5. 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?
  6. Ease of Use: Is the page easy to navigate? Are directions straightforward? If it is not easy to use, visitors will leave the site quickly.

Health-specific criteria for Web Surfing

  1. MedlinePlus: Guide to Healthy Web Surfing (concise sheet)
  2. 10 Things to Know about Evaluating Medical Resources on the Web (expanded version)

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Return to Research Guides by Subject: Biological Sciences


Wellesley College Library . WCIS . Irene Laursen . last modified: October 16, 2007