Today's Hours
Think! The sciences are interdisciplinary.
If your topic is in microbiology or biochemistry, perhaps the chemistry databases will have information for you. If your topic is in environmental science, check the geoscience or earth science databases. If your topic is health related, check the health databases. If you're investigating the life sciences industry, check the business databases, too.
If you are finding too many results, there are a variety of strategies to try to narrow down to the best results. A few are listed below.
Narrow down to Level 1 or 2 evidence-based practice
Narrow down to the newest publications (and, hence, the newest research findings)
Narrow down to Major Subjects, if possible in the database. (Possible in some databases, like MEDLINE via EBSCOhost or CINAHL)
Narrow down to publications with the search word(s) in the title of the article. Then they *may* be a major topic of the article.
Find a review article to give an overview of your topic. The database may allow you to narrow to "Publication Type." Alternatively, review articles are have the word "review" or "overview" in their title.
Recommended databases are chosen because they may be standards in their field, may be larger, or may contain better quality information on average than the other database choices. This does not guarantee that they are the best choice for YOUR research topic.
These databases were selected because they contain a significant amount of science content. Additional databases such as the general or multidisciplinary databases may contain good science journals, too. It is just that science is not a significant portion of their content.
The National Technical Information Service acquires, indexes, abstracts, and archives the largest collection of U.S. government-sponsored technical reports in existence. The NTRL offers online, free, and open access to these authenticated government technical reports. Technical reports and documents in its repository may be available online for free either from the issuing federal agency, the U.S. Government Publishing Office’s Federal Digital System website, or through search engines.
Environmental Conservation Online System (ECOS) provides accurate life history information and spatial data for all plant and wildlife species with Critical Habitat designations and other protected species.
