Welcome to the Biology 1110 Research Guide for Professor Ajgaonkar's class.
Click on a tab below to find books in the library, biographical information and book reviews, and how to cite your sources.
If you need additional help, contact me using the information at the right, or contact a reference librarian by email.
Find a Book
Begin at the library catalog by typing the title of an interesting book into the search box.
When search results appear, click on the title of the book that interests you, then description to see a summary of the book.
When you find the book you want to read, write down the title, location, and the call number. This is how you'll find the book in the library.
If the book you want is taken, try searching for another title on the list or searching by topic. For example, if you choose a food pantry, you could think about searching topics like "food insecurity," "organic agriculture," or "local foods."
Finding Book Reviews
Start in library databases to discover if there are academic book reviews of a topic. Search by author last name and book title.
The best places to start searching for book reviews are:
- The Literature Resource Center Once you hit search, be prepared to click on "Reviews and News" to see the best results.
- Academic OneFile After typing in the name of the work, look for "by document type" in the bottom of the screen and select book review.
- Academic Search Complete will also allow you to search by review under document type.
Be sure to put book titles in quotations. A search of "Soil Not Oil" and Shiva has better results than soil not oil.
Using Find This
Occasionally when you are searching a library database, you'll notice that there is no PDF or HTML link for an article that you'd like to read. Instead, there are two links. One says "C.O.D. library catalog", and the other says "Find This." If you click on the "Find This" link, you'll launch a search that will look to see if the article you want is in any of our online databases.
If the article is available online, you should be able to see where it will be and click a link that will open it.
If the article is not available online and you are willing to wait about 5 days for the article to arrive, click the Interlibrary Loan link that shows up to request the article.
Finding Biographical Info about an Author
Now that you've searched library databases, try Google. Most authors will have an official website to promote the book which will also present biographical info about the author, and will pull together other book reviews. You may find a few mentions that you couldn't find in other places.
APA Citations
Find directions about how to cite your sources in APA style on the library guide.
You can also use NoodleBib to format your works cited page. Create a Personal ID the first time you log in, so that you can save citation lists and add other features.
Finally, the Purdue OWL site has good examples of many APA citations.