Research Guides: Biology of Toxins (FLC: ARSC 198 / ENGL 1110): Articles & Databases

Finding Full Text Articles

When a library database does not host full text content, use the "Find @ UNM" link to access the full text for the article through the Library's general catalog.

Practice finding the full text for this citation:

Hammer, Tobin J., and M. Deane Bowers. "Gut microbes may facilitate insect herbivory of chemically defended plants." Oecologia 179, no. 1 (2015): 1-14.

Citation Searching Tutorial
This tutorial, designed for the Biology 203 course, provides a thorough introduction for obtaining the full text of an article when you start with a citation.

Recommended Library Databases

The following library databases are good resources to use at the beginning of your research process to search broadly for original research articles and other scientific information resources related to a range of biology and toxicology topics.

Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
This multidisciplinary resource contains access to scholarly journals, book reviews, magazine articles, newspaper articles, books, videos, and trade publications in English and a wide variety of other languages. Coverage: 1887-present
Biosis Citation Index (via Web of Science) This link opens in a new window
Life science research information and citation indexing from journals, books, reports, meetings, and patents.
Environment Complete This link opens in a new window
Books and articles on a wide range of topics related to the environment, including agriculture, renewable energy sources, pollution and waste management, and more. Coverage: 1880-present.
Google Scholar This link opens in a new window
An index of scholarly articles and books. Look for the Find@UNM link to access the full-text articles in University Libraries subscription databases. For books check the library catalog.
Google Scholar will link to some--not all--of the online resources to which the University Libraries subscribes. Use the "Check full text @ UNM" link to see if the resource is available through a UNM subscription. It may also be helpful to look up the journal or citation through UNM eJournals tool.
PubMed This link opens in a new window
PubMed provides free access to more than 11 million bibliographic citations and abstracts in the fields of medicine, nursing, dentistry, veterinary medicine, health care systems, and preclinical sciences.
Off campus must use the UNM Find Article icon to gain access to UNM subscriptions, and requires NetID and password.
Web of Science Core Collection This link opens in a new window
An extensive multidisciplinary index with content ranging from the sciences, social sciences, arts, and humanities. Faceted search allows for extensive limiting options allow. Forward and backward citation mapping are a standout feature for finding related references.
Zoological Record (via Web of Science) This link opens in a new window
Research resource for zoology and animal biology topics, including citations and abstracts for peer-reviewed journals, proceedings, and books. The leading taxonomic reference and unofficial register of animal or species names. Part of Web of Science. Coverage: 1864-present.

Database Search Tips

Select the appropriate database for your search. If you are off campus, make sure you are accessing databases via the library website, which will prompt you to authenticate with your UNM NetID.
For some topics, you may want to repeat your search in an additional database to add to your unique results list.
Remember to choose search terms carefully, thinking of synonyms or alternative terms. Boolean operators AND, OR, and NOT can be used to combine or exclude search terms.
Phrase searching - putting quotation marks (" ") around multiple search terms enables you to search for a specific phrase or string of words next to one another. For example, searching "community ecology" will retrieve only articles that include the words together as a phrase. Searching community ecology without quotes will retrieve articles that mention community and ecology anywhere in the records, not necessarily together as a phrase.
Truncation - the asterisk (*) is the truncation symbol in most databases. Using this symbol to replace a word ending will broaden your results set. For example, searching for nitrogen AND fix* will retrieve results for nitrogen fixation, nitrogen fixers, fixed nitrogen, and so on.
Many library databases index information (including full citations and abstracts/summaries of each article), and it takes a few extra steps to connect with full text content, if available. If you don't see a direct PDF download option for an article, look for the "Find @ UNM" link and follow steps accordingly.
Each database has detailed help screens to assist you if you're having trouble and provide tips to help you hone your searching skills. Library databases are more complicated than Google, but they are worth the extra effort to find appropriate sources!
Contact your librarian for more help! We can schedule an appointment or work via e-mail.

Tutorials

How to Read Call Numbers
Written tutorial describing how to read Library of Congress call numbers to find books in the library stacks (from University of Arizona).
Understanding popular and scholarly articles
Primary and secondary sources
How to find the full text of an article