Most databases provide a description of articles and other resources to help you find what you need by searching through the indexed literature within their website. Included as part of the item record is the “Get it at UC” button. Clicking this button will direct you to a copy of the full text of the article.
If we do not own a journal or book, you can submit an interlibrary loan (ILL) request to have the book or article (e)mailed to you for free from another UC library. Learn more about how to request books or articles.
In deciding which database(s) to use, it is helpful to note:
NOTE: Your database comparison table distributed in the class (and also to be available from your Canvas class site) helps with locating the above criteria for four of the key databases for finding animal-related literature: BIOSIS Previews, Zoological Record, PsycINFO & CAB Abstracts.
Library literature databases for Animal Biology range from databases strictly about fish/aquatic animals (ASFA, Fish/Fisheries & Aquatic Biodiversity), to very broad databases which include animal behavior research (PsycINFO & BIOSIS Previews), to specialized databases concerning wildlife (Zoological Record and Wildlife & Ecology Studies Worldwide), to agriculture databases with Veterinary Medicine and/or domesticated animal information (CAB Abstracts and Agricola).
Tracking a mentor down? In addition to searching by author name in the databases below, perhaps you are just looking generally for a UCD mentor, say who does research with birds? In BIOSIS or CAB Abstracts or Zoological Record, you should do a taxonomic search using the database thesaurus for taxonomic terms (e.g. you may need to use BIRDS or AVES …). Then you can cross this with either an ADDRESS or INSTITUTION field search specifying the researcher is from UCD. Best search in this type of field is by zip code, 95616 but ask your subject librarian for additional tips! Be aware that some of the UCD authors found might be post-doc researchers or graduate students — you can check their names against the UCD campus online directory to see if they are faculty and/or still at UC Davis.
Use these databases for citation searching of your specific mentors.
A peer-reviewed source is an article that has been reviewed by several other experts in the field before being published in order to ensure its quality. This 2 minute video describes the peer review process.
Many databases allow you to specify that you want to search only in “peer-reviewed” or “refereed” sources.
Search online for your journal’s title. Sections like “about this journal” or “editorial policies” generally mention whether the journal is peer-reviewed/refereed.
Use the Ulrich’s Periodicals Directory to find key information about a journal, including whether it has a peer-review process.