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University of Southern Maine
Libraries & Learning

BIO 281: Microbiology for Health Sciences

Library Essentials

Key Resources in Microbiology

Here is a sample of some relevant books in your subject area. These are just to get you started! If you're not sure how to find what you're looking for, reach out using our Ask A Librarian Live Chat.

The following two links are open textbooks which may be helpful to you:

You may also want to explore these books from our library collections:

Below are a few of the "top" journals in biology by the number of times their articles have been cited. To see many more journals in biology, including sub-specializations, see our Journals by Title page below and select "Health and Biological Sciences" in the Subjects area.

Below are just a few of our databases useful for biology research. For more databases with biological sciences content, check out our Databases A-Z page and select "Biology" from the drop-down.

Searching Tips and Tricks

Once you have a good understanding of your topic and have selected a few keywords, LibrarySearch is a great place to start your research! LibrarySearch is a convenient way to search almost all of the library’s resources (books, peer-reviewed articles, videos, and more) using a single search box. 

LibrarySearch

Library Catalog

Advanced Search

Tips for using LibrarySearch:

  • If you find a book that is relevant to your needs, look at the "Subject" area of the book's record. Click on a few of the subjects to find other similar books.
  • In many of the book records, you can look at the table of contents - click the link under the "Inside This Book" heading. This can help you determine if a book is right for your research.

To Request a book or article, follow these steps:

  • From LibrarySearch use the GET IT and then REQUEST button in the center of the screen. You may see a "Sign-In for more options" link which will prompt you to log-in to your UMS account in order to request the item.
  • MaineCat, use the Request This Item button in the middle of an item's page.
  • From a database:
    • Select the item you want and find and click the "Search for Article" or "Find it" button (the placement on the page will vary by database).
    • If the library does not have access to the item, find and click the "Submit an Interlibrary Loan Request"

There are many databases to choose form, which will provide you access to a wide variety of research on many topics. To explore databases on a specific subject, check out our Databases A-Z List, linked below, and select your subject from the drop-down. You can also limit your database search by resource type (Data, Images, Videos, Maps, and more) which will help you find the best database for your research.

Tips for searching in databases:

  • Most databases allow for searching with Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT).
    • Use AND to focus your search and combine different aspects of your topic
    • Use OR to broaden your search and find sources that use different words for the same concept.
    • Use NOT to omit certain terms from your results.
  • Use an asterisk (*) to truncate words if you want to search for all words with that root. For example, “environment*” would search for environment, environmental, environmentalism, etc.
  • Put quotes around a phrase that you want the database to search as a phrase, rather than as individual words.
  • Group synonyms inside parentheses using OR between each one

Example:

Screenshot of an advanced search using boolean operators in an academic database.

Primary sources in the sciences are first-hand accounts of original research or projects, written by the researchers themselves.

Secondary sources in the sciences analyze, summarize, or discuss information from one or more primary sources.

For example, a journal article written by a group of researchers about their experiment would be a primary source. A newspaper or magazine article summarizing the journal article for a non-scientific audience would be a secondary source. A book or review article that summarizes the researchers' journal article plus many others about similar topics to draw broad conclusions would also be a secondary source.

Confusingly, primary and secondary sources are often found in the same databases, so you have to apply a little thoughtful analysis to the item you are looking at to determine if it is a primary or secondary source.

Examples of Primary Sources:

  • Journal articles reporting on original research
  • Conference papers
  • Interviews
  • Lab notebooks
  • Patents
  • Technical reports
  • Theses and Dissertations

Examples of Secondary Sources:

  • Books
  • Review articles
  • Textbooks
  • Stories in popular media (newspapers, magazines, television) that summarize one or more research studies

Image: Should I Cite?

Flow Chart. Purdue University, "Should I Cite This?", A visual guide from the Purdue OWL. Text-only description below.

Should I Cite This? (Purdue OWL)

Flow Chart. Top level: Purdue University, "Should I Cite This?", A visual guide from the Purdue OWL. 

Step 1: Is the information, data, or opinion your idea?
- If yes, proceed to step 2.
- If no, proceed to step 3.

Step 2: Have you published the info before?
- If yes, proceed to step 3.
- If no, proceed to step 4.

Step 3: Is the info common knowledge (ie. do at least 5 credible sources have the info without citation)?
- If yes, proceed to step 5.
- If no, proceed to step 6.

Step 4: Don't need to cite!

Step 5: Don't need to cite!

Step 6: Are you copying the source exactly, putting it in your own words sentence by sentence, or reporting a lot of info in a few lines?
- Copying exactly: Cite as a quotation! See our citation guides for more info on how to do this.
- Your own words, line by line: Cite as a paraphrase! See our citation guides for more info on how to do this.
- Your own words, reporting a lot of info in a few lines: Cite as a summary! See our citation guides for more info on how to do this.

For more information about this and other important citation resources, visit Purdue OWL's citation style guides.

Why cite your sources?

USM's Academic Integrity Policy is one reason, but not the only one.

We cite in order to:

  • give credit to those whose work we use
  • facilitate our readers' efforts to find out more about the topic
  • show where our work fits into the scholarly conversation about the topic
  • document that we have researched our topic and based our conclusions on credible sources

Citing Sources Using APA

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