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BIOL 204: Principles of Biology Lab (Wefferling)

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About this guide

This guide will help you find peer-reviewed articles for your class assignments. There are many different ways to find peer-reviewed articles, and this guide will focus on Biological Abstracts and Science Citation Index, both of which use the Web of Science platform.

If you need help with library search tools and resources, just click on the Research Help tab. For other questions about your assignment, consult your professor.

Picking a Database

Based on the descriptions below and how they fit your interests, select either Biological Abstracts or Science Citation Index to get started. You can access them here or from the library's homepage by clicking the Databases button.

They look very similar to one another because they both use the Web of Science interface. Later on, you'll have the option to search both of them at once.

Why Use a Database?

Searching for peer-reviewed articles in a library database, as opposed to Google, or even Google Scholar, is often a wise choice.

Biological Abstracts, Science Citation index, and other Web of Science databases are curated collections of thousands of peer-reviewed, high-quality scholarly journals. This means that a team of experts evaluates journals using specified criteria to determine if they should be included in a given database. Criteria include things like academic level of research, timeliness, and evidence of peer review.

Databases also offer advanced search and filtering options, like narrowing results by field of study or document type. Additionally, since they maintain thorough and detailed records, it's easy to locate all the information you need for your citations.