Ohio State Lima BIO1113 Bagley Au25: Home
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OSU @ Lima Campus Library
There are many more resources available to help you excel on your research projects, and you can reach them from the Lima Campus Library website.
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Resources
Listed below are databases that can lead you to articles from scholarly journals in the field of Biology and other related fields. If you want a refresher on using databases, please get in touch with us at the library.
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Academic Search Complete [OSU] This link opens in a new windowA comprehensive scholarly, multi-disciplinary full-text database, with more than 5,300 full-text periodicals, including 4,400 peer-reviewed journals.
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Agricultural and Environmental Science database [OSU] This link opens in a new windowThis multidisciplinary database provides comprehensive coverage of the environmental sciences. Abstracts and citations are drawn from over 5690 serials including scientific journals, conference proceedings, reports, monographs, books and government publications.
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BIOSIS Previews [OSU] This link opens in a new windowContains references to journal articles, reports, literature reviews, conference papers, patents, and book synopses in the life sciences
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JSTOR [OSU] This link opens in a new windowJSTOR offers multidisciplinary and discipline-specific collections in the humanities, sciences and social sciences.
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Web of Science [OSU] This link opens in a new windowIndexes almost 6,000 core journals in the sciences, social sciences and humanities
Listed below are resources that can lead you to biographical information. If you want a refresher on using any of these resources, please get in touch with us at the library.
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American National Biography Online This link opens in a new windowIncludes people from all eras who have influenced and shaped American history and culture. You'll find profiles of more than 18,000 men and women from all walks of American life, from the well-known to the infamous to the obscure.
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Biography Reference Bank This link opens in a new windowBiographical information on approximately half a million people, from antiquity to the present.
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Oxford African American Studies Center [OSU] This link opens in a new windowComprehensive collection of scholarship focused on the lives and events which have shaped African American and African history and culture, coupled with search and browse capabilities.
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Oxford Dictionary of National Biography [OSU] This link opens in a new windowAn illustrated collection of 50,000 specially written biographies of the men and women who shaped all aspects of Britain's past, from the fourth century BC to the year 2000.
Useful Resources and Websites
News Literacy is the ability to critically evaluate and judge the reliability of news sources and information you find online. The following links can help you better evaluate news sources.
- Media Bias Chart - This interactive chart helps to determine levels of both factual reporting and bias in various news websites.
- AllSides - AllSides uses a system of volunteers to determine the partisan leanings and factual reporting levels of over 1,400 news sources.
- Snopes - The definitive fact-checking resource, Snopes got it's start in 1994 investigating urban legends and hoaxes, and has now evolved into an essential resource for investigating misinformation and disinformation.
One useful method of source evaluation is the DRAMA Method:
D – Date (How Recent)
R – Relevance (Original content? Or repost?)
A – Accuracy (Are there sources cited?)
M – Motivation (Was this written to inform? Or persuade?)
A – Authority (Who wrote this? Author/s or an organization?)
In addition to books and academic journal articles, you'll also be able to use some websites to find information. Below are links to a handful of websites that can help get you started, but there's a lot more out there!
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National Agricultural Statistics ServiceGo crazy with statistics! Agricultural Statistics is published each year by the United States Department of Agriculture to meet the diverse need for a reliable reference book on agricultural production, supplies, consumption, facilities, costs, and returns.
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NCSS Web Soil SurveyUsers can specify a geographic area of interest (AOI) and view soil and thematic maps online.
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Integrated Taxonomic Information SystemThis database has authoritative information on the names of animals, plants, fungi and microbes. Use this to find everything from kingdom to species terms.
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Science Online (from Facts on File) [OSU] This link opens in a new windowDatabase containing thousands of diagrams, definitions, biographies, essays, and experiments
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National Library of Medicine Digital CollectionDigital Collections is the National Library of Medicine's free online archive of biomedical books and videos.
So what is a peer-reviewed article? Peer-review is a process in which articles written by experts in a field of study are reviewed and critiqued by experts in that field before they are published. This process usually assures any reader of the quality of research. Below are the differences between peer-reviewed articles, and articles that are not peer-reviewed:
Articles that ARE Peer-Reviewed:
- Typically longer than 3 pages
- Written by an expert researcher or researchers
- Contain a list of references
- Use complex language (i.e. methodology)
- Are usually more of interest to other experts than to the general public
Articles that ARE NOT Peer-Reviewed:
- News articles (i.e. Associated Press, Reuters)
- Magazine articles (i.e. People, Time)
- Trade or Professional publications (focusing more on working in a field than research)
There are some great tips and tools that you can use to make sure you’re getting peer-reviewed results:
- Use the “Scholarly/Peer-Reviewed” limiter in a database
- Examine the publishing journal’s official website
- Ulrichsweb, a database with information about periodicals indicates if an item is peer-reviewed
- Never used Ulrichsweb before? Here's a Video Tutorial to show you how to use it!
- When in doubt, ask a librarian or your instructor
Below are links to CSE guides that can help you learn more about this citation style. Please note that some courses, such as EEOB 4220, will require a slightly different citation style. Be sure to follow the guidelines for your specific course.
