Library Student Employees: Discipline 911: Biology

Science Databases from the Indiana State University Library

Biology is the study of living things--the structure, function, growth, origin, evolution and distribution of living organisms.

Biology may include the study of things that are not alive when living things interact with them.

Biology is a science. Science uses the scientific method which emphasizes the testing of ideas in order to find out if they are true. If an idea/theory/hypothesis is not testable, it is not science.

The literature and resources of the science disciplines are heavily structured around the scientific method. Because science knowledge is based on experimentation and observation, publications of original research are very important. The examination of existing theories and the evaluation of their supporting evidence is very important in the development of new questions to ask and new experiments to perform.

Scientific disciplines like biology, chemistry, physics, geology, etc. primarily publish in journals, rather than books, websites, etc. 

The publication of research helps distribute ideas and theories to other scientists. The distribution encourages discussion of the ideas therein. The discussion generates new ideas for further research or consideration. The entire process adds to our knowledge of the world.

Introductory Biology
Genetics - the study of heredity, genes, DNA
Physiology - the study of how living things and their parts function
Ecology - the study of the relationship between groups of living things and the environment
Evolution - the study of how species and organisms change over time
Cell Biology - the study of living cells of organisms
Microbiology - the study of microscopic organisms

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.

Some databases allow searchers to limit to research articles and some do not. Some of the science databases assume that users will have the knowledge to tell the difference and do not offer a checkbox or other feature to narrow the results for you.

Mammalogy is a branch of zoology dealing with mammals of the class Mammalia.

Kingdom      Animalia      
  Phylum        Chordata     
    Subphylum   Vertebrata      
      Class           Mammalia
        Order
          Family
            Genus
              Species

Find out the scientific name (genus and species) of your species. It is the most precise method to acquire information about a species. But take care. The scientific name may have changed in the past. In the 1990s, many DNA lab techniques were improved and became affordable and plentiful; many scientists used them to sequence the DNA of species and compare them to believed related species. As a result, many species were reassigned within the taxonomic hierarchy and renamed appropriately. In addition, even today scientists debate and disagree about the scientific name of some species.

But find out the common names, too, and if there are multiple common names. Some sources will use the scientific name and some will use the common name to reference a species. The professional biology sources will favor the scientific name.

• Science Databases from the Indiana State University Library.
• Information about the databases.

Use the databases to search for journal articles, including primary research articles in the sciences. Some of the largest science databases do not include full-text so click the link in the record to Check for Full-Text. Or follow the instructions on the Tab for Finding Full-Text.

You can learn a lot about what is known about a species just by skimming the results of a search in a biology database. Published research will focus on knowledge gaps and areas people find interesting. If the results are sorted with most recent articles first, you can infer what is still not known and is, hence, being investigated. Some species are hard to find in the wild and, therefore, are hard to study.

As you research your contrast paper, perhaps one of your species will be well studied and understood and another will be still relatively unknown.

Information you find on Web sites are NOT primary sources UNLESS they are original notifications of scientific research studies and include a methodology for the experiment. Some government funded research may be published in a government report and distributed via the Internet. But usually you will find scientific research faster by searching the science databases first. Most science research is published in articles.