Finding your way

Library, Information and Technology Services (LITS) provides library and technology support to the campus. Use our document Getting Around in LITS to tell you where to find people and places in our buildings. Many of the materials you may want to use for your classes are available online, but you will also need printed resources to do your best work. You may also want to Ask a Librarian for assistance. The science librarian is Sarah Oelker, and her office is next to the Reference Room on Level 4 of Williston Library.

Some other spots in the library you may need:

• Science books are on Level 6 of the Miles-Smith wing, call numbers Q-TP
• Science journals are on Levels 2 & 3 of Miles-Smith, shelved alphabetically by journal title:
  • A... - Journal of Differential Equations -- Level 3
  • Journal of Ecology to Z...-- Level 2
• Photocopiers -- Level 2, Miles-Smith, and Level 2 1/2, Williston

Background Information

You can find these books in the Reference Room, on Level 4 of Williston Library:

Books

To find books on a particular topic, or by title or author, search the Library catalog.

You can also browse the stacks for books on biology or chemistry. Here are some locations to try:

• QH (natural history, general biology, ecology)
• QK (plants)
• QL (animals)
• QM (anatomy)
• QP (physiology)
• QR (microbiology)
• R (medicine)

Journal Articles

Need some science articles to do your research? Try these databases:
• General Science Abstracts covers 200 major science journals
• Web of Science covers 5000 journals and will tell you who else has cited an article
• JSTOR has science articles from 1881 to the present, including lots of articles on organisms you will see in lab
• PubMed has articles on medicine and basic science related to medicine
• ScienceDirect is a very large collection of science articles from science publisher Reed Elsevier, covering 1995 to the present day

Evaluating Information

As you do your research, think about where the information you are gathering came from, and who created it. This will help you to avoid outdated information, incorrect facts, and even hoaxes. Here are some resources that can help you evaluate your sources:

• What's the difference between a scholarly journal and a popular magazine?
• Is this a reliable webpage?
• DHMO sounds really scary; is this for real? (A clue: write out the molecular formula for the compound described here. Stumped? Here's the answer, and you can fact-check lots of scary stuff with Snopes.)

Need more help?

Contact Sarah Oelker, Science Librarian, or try Ask a Librarian. You can find additional resources on the library's Biology Research Guide.