Animal Behavior

Need help with your research? Contact:

Rachel Hamelers
phone: x 3601
email: rhamelers@muhlenberg.edu
IM (AIM):rachelhamelers

Need help after hours?
IM the Library at TalkToTrexler (for AIM, Yahoo, and MSN)
Note: Add @hotmail.com for MSN.
Online Sunday-Thursday 2pm-10pm.
See Ask a Librarian for more information.

Selected Reference Sources

Credo Reference
Credo Reference provides access to 325 reference works, including general and subject specific dictionaries, encyclopedias, fact books, guides, companions and more from over 60 respected publishers across 17 major subject areas--all online, all searchable from one search box.

Encyclopedia of life sciences. (1999- ). Basingstoke, Hampshire, England: Nature Pub. Group: Macmillan; New York, NY: Grove's Dictionaries, Inc.

Levin, S.A. (Ed.). (2001). Encyclopedia of biodiversity. San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
Reference 333.9503 E56o v.1-5

Specific sources

National Geographic - available through the publisher, full text from publisher, 2005 - present, or 1995 - 3 months ago through Academic Search Premier

Nature - available through Academic Search Premier, 1997-1 year ago, or in paper on level C

Natural History - available through Academic Search Premier, 1990 - present, or on level C in paper

Science - available in paper on level C of the library, 1966-present, citations are available through Academic Search Premier

Scientific American - Available from Academic Search Premier, 1995-present

Databases - Getting Started

Academic Search Premier
Large and diverse database that covers most academic disciplines. Contains both scholarly and non-academic resources. Includes many articles in full text.

JSTOR
Searchable collections of full-text journals across many disciplines. Contains full-text of many biology, botany, ecology journal titles. (Note: To restrict results to particular journals/disciplines, from Advanced Search screen, choose discipline category/ies.)

LexisNexis Academic
Provides access to news articles, business legal information, medical and reference research. The News includes national, regional, and international newspapers and magazines.

OmniFile
Multi-disciplinary database providing the complete content--indexing, abstracts, and full-text--from six of Wilson's full-text databases.

Finding Primary Literature

Reading Primary Literature in Biology (Kenyon College)
http://biology.kenyon.edu/Bio_InfoLit/index.html

Article Databases and Indexes

Agricola
A bibliographic database of citations to agricultural literature created by the National Agricultural Library. It contains separate databases for books and journals which combined account for millions of records from 1970 to present.

Google Scholar
http://scholar.google.com/
An open-access search engine that looks for content it identifies as "scholarly" on the free web. Emphasis is on books and journal articles. Intended as a "federated search" to search across disciplines (weighted toward sciences and social sciences). Not always full text. Be sure to check library catalog to see if Muhlenberg has access to the full text.

Ingenta
Provides online indexing to professional and scholarly publications. Researchers are able to search and access a broad range of academic materials relevant to biology, life sciences, as well as many other subject areas. No full text.

ScienceDirect College Edition Health and Life Sciences
This database includes 1000+ full-text Elsevier journals in the areas of health and life sciences. Coverage spans 1995 to the present.

GETTING THE ARTICLES

  1. When searching for articles, you may find the full-text of an article linked in the database.

  2. If not, search the Trexler Library Catalog to see if we own the journal in which the article is published.
    • Most databases have a Get It! link embedded. Click the link to check our holdings. If the database doesn't have a Get It! link, search the Trexler Library Catalog by the title of the journal in which the article was published.
    • Verify that we have online, print, or microform access to the year/volume you need.
  3. If we do not own the journal you need, request the article via Interlibrary Loan.
    • Many databases have a Request on Interlibrary Loan link embedded. Click the link to fill out the form.
    • If the database does not have an ILL link embedded, go to the Library Homepage -- Interlibrary Loan. Fill out the form. NOTE: Interlibrary Loan can take anywhere from a few day to a few weeks. Plan accordingly.

Finding Books

TREXLER LIBRARY

Search the Trexler Library Catalog to find out what books, government publications, journals, videos, etc. the library owns.

OTHER LIBRARIES

WorldCat. To find books held by other libraries, search WorldCat, a database of over 60 million library records from around the country and world. Use the ILL button to request a book from another library. (ILL can take 10-14 days.)

Citing Your Sources

For information on citation styles, consult the following resources.

Writer's Handbook (University of Wisconsin--Madison)
http://www.wisc.edu/writing/Handbook/Documentation.html

Trexler Library handouts on citation styles:
http://www.muhlenberg.edu/library/reshelp/citations.html
GETTING THERE: Library Homepage -- Citation Guides (in the Research Help box).

© Muhlenberg College
Last modified: 19 January 2009