Scientific information: where does it come from?

Scientific information evolves through a continuous process of communication among scientists. It can be classified into different types, or tiers, of literature.

Searching for articles on a topic

There are three databases that are particularly useful for BI 107:

• General science full text (Online)

  Description: General science full text features bibliographic indexes (coverage starting 1984), full text (starting 1995), plus graphs, charts, diagrams, photos, and illustrations. Covers leading journals and magazines, biographical sketches, symposia, conferences, review articles, selected letters to the editor, and special issues of journals published as supplementary issues, review issues, or laboratory guides. Also cites book reviews.
• Web of science
• Biological abstracts. (1927-)

Use these databases to search keywords related to your topic.

Getting the article

Once you have used a database to find an article, the next step is to find the actual full text so you can read it. We have both online and print subscriptions to journals, sometimes both. In some cases, the full text is linked directly from the database record.  Look for “full text” or “PDF” or “HTML” to read the article.  If the full text isn’t linked in the database that doesn’t mean we don’t have it. Start by searching for the JOURNAL title in our eJournal Locator. If you do not find the journal, or the date you are looking for, perform a JOURNAL title search for the journal in BU Libraries Catalog BU Libraries Catalog. The library’s finding articles page describes the process of finding articles in more detail and provides suggestions about what to do if the library does not have the article you are looking for.

Accessing electronic resources from off-campus

Most of our eJournals and databases can be accessed from off campus using a BU log-in and Kerberos password.

Reserve materials

There are a large number of items on reserve in the Science and Engineering Library for BI 107. Use the reserve search feature in the library’s catalog to look for BI 107 reserve materials. When checking these items out, please be sure to ask for them using the call number provided in the library catalog.

Getting help

Librarians are here to assist you!! They can be reached in person at any reference desk, on the phone, via email, or through chat. Please do not hesitate to ask us if you have questions or need help!