Research Guides: #Biology: Overviews & Starting Points

Accessing the Databases

Access online library materials through the library databases!

To access the databases from off-campus, you will be prompted to enter your 14-digit library barcode.

Don't have one yet? Request a barcode number online.

Browse by subject area
A-Z sortable database list

Discovery Search
Search (nearly) all the library collections from one place, including articles, books and e-books, videos, and more.
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You can search without signing in, but once you click to access something, you'll be prompted to use your library barcode number or your LSC username/password.

News & Ideas

Looking for a topic? Trying to narrow a topic? Try these:

ScienceDaily
EurekAlert!
This online, global news service is operated by AAAS, the science society.

New York Times: Subscription Access This link opens in a new window
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Find both news and reviews as well as access to historical NY Times issues dating back to 1851.

First time user: To get access, you need to first register for an NYT account.
1. Click the link. You will have to enter your LSC library barcode.
2. Select Create Account and complete registration fields. Use your LSC email address!
3. Once you have an account, you may access NYTimes.com and NYT mobile apps like any subscriber, or go through this link but select "log in."

Note: Site passes will expire after 365 days. To renew, you will have to activate a new pass by repeating this process.

If Google Chrome shows a warning about this link, hit Ignore. You must use the proxy to get the special access.

Reference Resources

Reference materials are a great way to get a broad overview of background information on a topic. Start with reference works to help you choose or define a research topic. Reading some basic background information will lead you to new terminology and concepts which you can then use to search databases or the library catalog for more specific information on a narrower portion of the topic.

Credo Reference This link opens in a new window
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Includes materials from over 650 reference books on a variety of topics in higher education, including many disciplines in the biological sciences.
STAT!Ref This link opens in a new window
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Full-text electronic medical library; included 26 titles including CPT Data Files, Davis's Drug Guide for Nurses, 5-Minute Clinical Consult, ICD-9-CM, ICD-10-CM, ICD-10-PCS, burket's Oral Medicine, and Scientific American Medicine.
Most titles can be viewed by one person at a time, so if a title is unavailable, wait a few minutes and try again.
IBM Micromedex This link opens in a new window
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A wide range of clinical databases, including information about drugs, toxicology, diseases, acute care, and alternative medicine.
Mobile apps are free to download but require passwords for subscriber access. Use this link to get the password for the app.
Gale eBooks: General Reference Collection This link opens in a new window
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A collection of several hundred current subject encyclopedias, including some in the biological sciences.
Search all Gale databases at once with Gale PowerSearch.

Encyclopedia of Life
Free online collaborative encyclopedia through the University of Arizona intended to document all of the 1.9 million living species known to science.