Library Guides: Biology 20

Brad Goodbar, Instructor
Developed by Gina Haycock, Librarian
October 2009

REFERENCE BOOKS:  Located on the first floor of the library behind the Reference Desk.  These books must remain in the library. Reference books include dictionaries, almanacs and encyclopedias. Specialized or subject encyclopedias (concentrating on a particular subject instead of covering all knowledge) are excellent starting points for research. They are focused on a particular topic, cover the major concepts of the topic, are written by experts in the field, and often have bibliographies or other references. Examples of Reference books in the COS library are as follows:


Encyclopedia of Global health    #R362.103 E56
Introduction to Water in California    #R363.61 C278
The Environment A to Z        #R363.7 H825
Global Warming in the 21st Century    #R363.73874 J65
Introduction to Air in California    #R363.739 C278
Scientific American Science Desk Reference        #R500 S416
McGraw Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology        #R503 M147
Oceans    #R551.46 D275
Encyclopedia of Water        #R553.703 N562
Habitats    #R574.526 H116
An A to Z of DNA Science        #R576.503 W823
Rainforests of the World        #R577.36 G285
World Atlas of Coral Reefs        #R577.789 S734
Encyclopedia of Rainforests        #R578.734 J93
New Encyclopedia of Aquatic Life        #R591.92 N532
Human Genome Sourcebook        #R611.0181663 A 176
Mental Disorder of the New Millennium    #R616.89 M549
Obesity in Childhood and Adolescence    #R618.92 O12

Online Reference Books:
 Gale Virtual Reference Library - Provides access to 200 reference books. All the books are full-text and cover a wide variety of topics including art, science, literature and much more. All 200 titles can be searched simultaneously or individual titles may be selected. (Cost $20,000)

CredoReference - Provides full-text reference books on a wide variety of subjects (Cost $2500)

 

CIRCULATING BOOKS: Located on the second floor of the library. Our newest books are, for the most part, in the areas of science and social issues, and current topics, because we try to build the collection to the type of assignments given to students.   
Some subject headings/key words that  you might use in the COS book catalog  and/or the electronic resources  are as follows:

Genes Genetically modified foods Alternative medicine Vaccination--Government Policy Captive wild animals--North America--Breeding
Genomes Agricultural biotechnology Human reproductive technology Wildlife conservation Wildlife reintroduction
Genetic code GM food Stem cells Population control Fishery conservation
gene mapping Food--Biotechnology Embryonic stem cells Marine ecology Cancer--Nutritional aspects
DNA human cloning human embryo--Research Endangered species Cancer--prevention
Gene therapy Aging--Genetic aspects Transplantation of organs Fisheries Communicable diseases--prevention
Sex preselection Longevity--Genetic aspects Immunization--Complications AIDS--vaccines Epidemiology
Genetic engineering Mental illness--Genetic aspects Xenografts--Moral and ethical aspects. Cancer--Environmental aspects Cancer--Genetic aspects
Animal experimentation Laboratory animals Bioterror Epidemics Pandemic
Extinction (biology) Animal rights Biological invasions Food supply Prion diseases
Marine pollution Introduced animals Alien plants Ocean--environmental aspects Marine resources conservation

Online Books:

  • NetLibrary E-books: Electronic full-text copies of published print materials, such as reference books, scholarly and popular books. They can be accessed from any computer on campus as well as remotely from home when you set up a user name and password from a campus computer

PERIODICAL INDEXES:

Through the Electronic Resources link, http://cos.edu/library/electronic.htm, on the COS Library’s Web Site, there are links to the electronic index subscription databases that the library makes available to COS students. Many of these indexes offer full-text articles, which means the entire article will be available even if the library doesn't subscribe to the periodical itself. If a student is off campus, passwords are necessary to access these databases. Passwords are available for COS students at the COS Library Information Desk or by calling the Library at (559) 737-6179.

DATABASES FOR SCHOLARLY SOURCES:  

 Expanded Academic ASAP (InfoTrac) -  provides articles from more than 500 scholarly, trade and general-interest publications, as well as references for The New York Times. The databases integrate core titles in every major academic concentration; area  and issue-specific journals; academic journals with application in the professions; and publications with national news coverage and commentary.  (This database is not completely full-text.) (Annual Cost $9,732)
This database works well when using a subject search. When entering a subject search, you can use broad terms, because the index will automatically help to narrow the search.

ProQuest - This mega-database contains 17 databases including: newspapers and magazine/journals (Annual Cost $19,000). You can limit your search to specific databases such as the following:

Pharmaceutical News Index - Search the definitive database of pharmacological news, research, and regulatory information. Covers the most important specialized publications in the pharmaceutical, health care, biotechnology, and medical device industries.

ProQuest Biology Journals - Search full-text journals in the life sciences.

ProQuest Health and Medical Complete - Designed to serve a wide range of people who need health information -- from hospital administrators to medical professionals to consumers. The database provides coverage from leading health journals and essential medical journals in key medical specialties

ProQuest Psychology Journals - With complete full-text coverage from top psychology and related publications, this database meets the needs of both students and mental-health professionals
 

DATABASES FOR CONTEMPORARY ISSUES:    (These two databases are full-text)

CQ Researcher - Provides research reports on the most current and controversial issues of the day with complete summaries, all the pros and cons, bibliographies and more. (Annual Cost $523)

SIRS (Social Issues Research Series) - Contains all full-text articles from a variety of newspaper and magazines covering current social issues.  (Annual Cost $1440)

SEARCH ENGINES FOR A COMBINATION OF SOURCE TYPES:

Google Scholar - is another possible search tool. This search tool indexes books, peer-reviewed papers, theses, abstracts and articles, from academic sources.

Infomine - is a scholarly Internet resource collection ( an Internet Search Directory) developed and supported by UC Riverside.

Scirus - searches both web and journal sources for scientific information only. 

 

WEB SITES:

SEARCHING FOR IMAGES ON THE INTERNET:

  • Google Image Search
  • Alta Vista Image Search
  • Wikimedia
  • Adam Health Illustrated Encyclopedia includes over 4,000 articles about diseases, tests, symptoms, injuries, and surgeries. It also contains an extensive library of medical photographs and illustrations.
  • Biotechnology Graphics Gallery -  Graphics Gallery is a series of labeled diagrams with explanations representing the important processes of biotechnology. Each diagram is followed by a summary of information, providing a context for the process illustrated.
  • Calphotos CalPhotos is a collection of 94,327 images of plants, animals, fossils, people, and landscapes. A variety of organizations and individuals have contributed photographs to CalPhotos. Please be aware that these various contributors maintain copyright and follow the usage guidelines provided with each image.
  • Center for Disease Control Public Health Image Library - offers an organized, universal electronic gateway to CDC's pictures.  Public health professionals, the media, laboratory scientists, educators, students, and the worldwide public are welcome to use this material for reference, teaching, presentation, and public health messages. The content is organized into hierarchical categories of people, places, and science, and is presented as single images, image sets, and multimedia files.
  • For additional Web Sites try this list from Boston University Libraries.

Finding Images on the Web - This is a tutorial on the legal use of copyrighted images, image searching, downloading, and use. It includes a great collection of links to art, science, map, advertisement, photograph, and other image collections and image search engines. Created by art history bibliographer Ruth S. Thomas at the Mugar Memorial Library of Boston University.

*****Copyright Issues - Generally speaking students may incorporate others' works into their multimedia creations and perform and display them for academic assignments but should always cite/reference where the works came from.
__________________________________________________
The above web sources are from the web page:

Fly, Connie. Library Guides: Biology 20. 2006. College of the Sequoias Library. 12 April 2007        
        <http://cos.edu/library/rollinger/biol20.htm>

You are visitor number:  Hit Counter
This page was created April 2007. This page was last updated: 11/05/2009
For questions and comments, please mail to: ginah@cos.edu