The Homer Babbidge Library is a tremendous resource. In addition to books and journals, it provides paper and electronic databases searchable by topic or author and an interlibrary loan service to obtain books and articles the library does not own. Below I provide a brief summary of some of these databases. The reference desk at the library is an excellent source of help if you have never used any of them.
Note: Remember to attend the library orientation session at 3:00PM, Monday, 11 September, in LIC 2, Homer Babbidge Library.
Biological Sciences Abstracts (from Cambridge Scientific). This database is available online (from any computer with internet access) through the library website. You can get to it either through databases by title or subject. Although it is stronger in molecular and biomedical areas, it also includes many of the top journals in evolutionary biology. If you find references that are particularly relevant, it is a good idea to look at the descriptors (a category in the full record) and try the search again using those terms. The full record also includes the abstract for many of the articles, a time-saving feature if you are not sure from the title how relevant an article is.
Science Citation Index/Web of Science. This database is available online from 1994-present through the library website (under shortcuts or databases by title). A computer station in the Information Cafe 2 in the library contains a searchable CD-ROM version covering 1986-1999. Older versions are available only on paper. The SCI can be used to do standard author or topic searches (similar to the Biological Sciences Index). It can also be used to search for papers that have cited a relevant paper or author. This feature is particularly useful if you have discovered a key older paper on your chosen topic. Just as the Literature Cited section of a paper allows you to search backward in time, this SCI feature allows you to search forward in time. Another useful feature of the SCI is that you can limit the search to particular kinds of documents, such as review papers. This is useful when you are looking for more general papers to help with topic selection.
JREF. Although JREF is available from all HOMER terminals, it is a much smaller database containing more general articles. It may be useful during the topic selection phase of this assignment. You will need to use other databases for access to more specialized literature in writing the term paper.
Zoological Record (Reference QL1.R43). Although Zoological Record is available only in paper, it provides comprehensive access to scientific publications on animals. It allows you to search by author, subject, or taxon. The complete reference listings are provided only under the author section (subject and taxon searches refer you to the author section). Although searching is more time consuming than on electronic sources, this is an extremely valuable database, particularly if your paper has a taxonomic focus.
Interlibrary loan. Many of you will find yourselves looking for articles that are not available in the UConn library. To obtain these articles, you should submit a request online through the library website. The first time you do this, you will have to set up a patron profile. Subsequently, all you will have to do is log on. Because retrieving articles from other libraries may take several weeks, you should start your research early so that the library has time to respond to your request.