Library Guides: Biology 21

Bobby Kamansky, Instructor
Developed by Gina Haycock, Librarian
March 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:

The Environment A to Z        #R363.7 H825
Global Warming in the 21st Century    #R363.73874 J65
Scientific American Science Desk Reference        #R500 S416
McGraw Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology        #R503 M147
Synopsis and Classification of Living Organisms    #R574.012 S993 
Habitats    #R574.526 H116
Rainforests of the World        #R577.36 G285
World Atlas of Coral Reefs        #R577.789 S734
Encyclopedia of Rainforests        #R578.734 J93
Encyclopedia of Medicinal Plants    #R615.32 C527
Healing with Plants in the American and Mexican West    #R615.23 Ka23
 The Cultural History of Plants    #R630.9 C968
Dictionary of Plant Pathology    #R632.303 H739

 

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 (periodical indexes) are as follows:

Genes Genetically modified foods Plants-evolution Plant toxins Medicinal plants
Genomes Agricultural biotechnology Plant cells and tissues Wildlife conservation Traditional medicine
Genetic code GM food Plant communities Marine resources conservation Herbs-Therapeutic use
Gene mapping Food--Biotechnology Botany Marine ecology Cancer--Nutritional aspects
DNA Plants-Folklore Rare plants Ocean--Environmental aspects Alternative medicine
Gene therapy Plant biotechnology Endangered species Marine pollution Herbals
Extinction (biology) Transgenic plants Biological invasions Food supply Plants-Folklore
Genetics Crops-Genetic engineering-Environmental aspects Alien plants Ethnobotany Plant extracts-therapeutic use
Plant genetic engineering Plant breeding Invasive species Folk medicine Plants, Useful

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:

From 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.

DATABASE 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 database integrates 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)
InfoTrac 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 Biology Journals - Provides full-text journals in the life sciences.

DATABASE FOR CONTEMPORARY ISSUES:   

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

SEARCH ENGINES FOR A COMBINATION OF SOURCE TYPES:

Google Scholar -  Indexes books, peer-reviewed papers, theses, abstracts and articles, from academic sources.

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

Scirus - Developed by Elsevier Science for scientific information only.  Scirus searches both web and journal sources.

WEB SITES:

__________________________________________________
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>

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This page was created February 2009. This page was last updated: 03/19/2010
For questions and comments, please mail to: ginah@cos.edu