Biology
Research & Instruction Librarian
Getting Started with Biology Research
This guide is intended to help you identify where to search for literature and data, develop your search strategy, and manage and cite sources. For additional research support, reach out to your subject librarian.
Biology research can cover extensive topics and intersect with numerous other fields. When you're starting to explore biology research, it can be helpful to take a few of these steps:
- Write down key words, phrases, names, and dates that might relate to your topic.
- Consider different ways of talking about things, like using common/scientific names for species, generic/chemical/trade names for drugs, and other terminologies and synonyms you might encounter.
- Often you have to think more broadly than your specific report, trial study, or other reference work in order to find relevant sources—where might you find related works?
Databases
These databases are a good starting place for searching literature in Biology. For more options, see all Biology databases.
- Web of Science This link opens in a new window
Indexes information covering disciplines in the sciences, arts and humanities, and social sciences. Includes six citation databases: the Science Citation Index, the Social Sciences Citation Index, the Arts & Humanities Citation Index, the Book Citation Index, Current Chemical Reactions, and Index Chemicus.
- PubMed This link opens in a new window
Contains publication in the area of health and medicine research. Includes MedLine which records are indexed with NLM's controlled vocabulary, the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH®). Links to full-text online holdings are listed where the citations match Macalester Library e-journal resources.
- BioOne Complete This link opens in a new window
A full-text database of 200+ leading journals in the biological, ecological, and environmental sciences.
- BioMed Central This link opens in a new windowAccess to publications including journals across all biomedical fields - from basic life sciences to clinical medicine. All research articles are peer reviewed and, if published, made immediately and freely available.
Background & Contextual Sources
- Biodiversity Heritage LibraryThe Biodiversity Heritage Library is a collection of literature and research on the subject of biodiversity. It contains thousands of books, articles, and historical documents.
- ION: Index to Organism NamesION holds the data on organism nomenclature, collected from the scientific literature for Clarivate Analytics' Zoological Record database.
- MeSH TermsMeSH (Medical Subject Headings) is the National Library of Medicine controlled vocabulary thesaurus used for indexing articles for PubMed.
- NCBI Taxonomy BrowserThe Taxonomy Database is a resource for the classification and nomenclature for all of the plant and animal species listed in the public sequence databases.
- Oxford Dictionary of Biology and MicrobiologyThe Oxford Dictionary of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology offers a comprehensive database for terms relating to modern biochemistry and molecular biology.
Schedule a Meeting with a Librarian
Have questions about the research process? Don't struggle, reach out to a librarian for help! Students interested in research support can book a meeting with a librarian to:
- Narrow down research topic ideas
- Find background information
- Save time getting started with your research
- Use the library’s collections as well as worldwide and web resources
- Choose databases for discipline-focused research
- Learn more efficient searching method
To make an appointment, reach out to a subject librarian specializing in your topic.