Biology

Scientific literature, especially journal articles, can be accessed through the library's collection of databases. Databases are structured collections of items so you will need to search in a more structured way compared to searching using web search engines. This also allows you to search deeply for very specific topics.

You may want to start by searching more broadly before a more advanced database search. Try searching using the "Articles" search in the library catalog. This is a good option for when you are beginning your search and need to do some initial searching to see what has already been published on your topic/question.

For a more advanced and deeper search of the literature, search in subject-specific databases. The databases that contain literature related to biology are listed below.

Another way to search for information is by journal title. Below is a selected list of journals that publish on biology.

In addition to the library's subscription databases. This is a list of biology-related open-access databases.

Biology

• arXiv
  • Open access to 1,000,000+ e-prints in Physics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Quantitative Biology, Quantitative Finance, and Statistics.
• bioRxiv
  • A preprint server for biology. "Authors use the bioRxiv service to make their manuscripts available as “preprints” before certification by peer review, allowing other scientists to see, discuss, and comment on the findings immediately."
• Biodiversity Heritage Library
• BioMed Central
  • Free access to the highly rated journals published by BioMed Central.
• California Natural Diversity Database
  • A program that inventories the status and locations of rare plants and animals in California.
• Charles Darwin's Library
  • Digital copies of Darwin's library including his handwritten notes.
• Darwin Correspondence Project
  • On this site, you can read and search the full texts of more than 7,500 of Charles Darwin’s letters.
• ION - Index of Organism Names
  • ION contains the organism names related data gathered from the scientific literature for Thomson Reuters' Zoological Record® database. Viruses, bacteria, and plant names will be added from other Thomson Reuters databases such as BIOSIS Previews®.
• John Muir's Papers
• NCBI
  • Search all biomedical databases provided by the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), an agency of the U.S. National Library of Medicine. 
• PLoS
  • The Public Library of Science provides free access to the full text of all of its highly rated journals.
• Science Daily
  • Features major headlines and news stories for all scientific disciplines, including laboratory science, environmental science, health science, and computer science. The site features easy sorting options, is updated continuously, and provides the thorough source information for all stories.
• Science Watch
  • ScienceWatch.com (updated weekly) provides a behind-the-scenes look at the scientists, journals, institutions, nations, and papers selected by Essential Science IndicatorsSM from Thomson Reuters and other products of the Research Services Group.
• UniProt
  • UniProt is the world’s leading high-quality, comprehensive, and freely accessible resource of protein sequence and functional information.

Botany

• Agricola
  • Contains citations and abstracts to the agricultural literature created by the National Agricultural Library and its cooperators. Topics covered include animal & veterinary sciences, entomology, plant sciences, forestry, aquaculture & fisheries, farming & farming systems, agricultural economics, extension & education, food & human nutrition, and earth & environmental sciences. Covers 1970-present.

Zoology

• African Elephant Library
  • The AEL includes references on the biology, ecology, and management of the African elephant.
• Classic Illustrated Nature Collections (NYPL)
  • From New York Public Library, digital images.
• ION - Index of Organism Names
  • ION contains the organism names related data gathered from the scientific literature for Thomson Reuters' Zoological Record® database. Viruses, bacteria, and plant names will be added from other Thomson Reuters databases such as BIOSIS Previews®.
• PrimateLit
  • An index to the literature of primatology.
• SORA - Searchable Ornithological Research Archive 
  •  An open-access electronic journal archive that provides access to an extensive Ornithological literature of international scope, and detailed material documenting the history of Ornithology in North America over the last 120 years.
• Global Raptor Information Network
  • Provides information on diurnal raptors (hawks, eagles, and falcons).

Google Scholar is a useful way to do a broad search and see what's available on your topic. However, it doesn't directly provide access to the full-text of articles, and you will often hit paywalls.

It's possible to configure Google Scholar so that you can use it to search, but then use the Library's databases to access full text when it's available. You'll see a "Get It @ Bradley" link to the right of your results when this option is available. The handout linked below shows the steps to set this up in Google Scholar.