BIOL 309 - Infectious Diseases
| Subject Librarian: Rebecca Pappert | I'd like to schedule a Research Tutorial |
Getting Started
Internet
To get your feet wet with your disease, give yourself TEN minutes on the internet. While Google is our preferred search engine for most things, try out the following *science-focused* search engines. Take notes while you are surfing - type of organism, host, interesting citations to look up. The internet can be a first great pass to get you on the right track for using more research-focused resources. Go to Google last.
- Scirus
Science-specific search engine, covering more than 450 million sites. - FirstGov for Science
Search for books, technical reports, journals and conference proceedings in all areas of science, engineering, health sciences and agriculture. - Biozone: Bio Links
The "Microbiology" category provides lists of web sites on bacteria, fungi, parasites, etc.; the "Health and Disease" category is useful for human diseases. - Google
The volume of information here can be cumbersome to wade through. Remember to *evaluate* your sources (authors, date, scholarly vs. popular sites etc.). . . you may just get hints of how to research your topic using more authoritative resources. The advanced search is particularly helpful. Limiting your searches to a particular domain (.edu, .gov, .org etc.) often reduces the number of off-topic/inappropriate sites.
Example:
"Phakopsora meibomiae" site:.edu
Classification
Web Resources
- Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS)
ITIS not finding your organism? Try the Annual Checklist.
- NCBI Entrez Taxonomy Browser: Provides links to genetic information, helpful external sites and sometimes to specific research articles in PubMed. A "must search" site!!!
- Encyclopedia of Life
- Virus Taxonomy Online
Print Resources
- Elsevier's Dictionary of the Genera of Life. 1999.
SEL REF QH83 .T77 1999
- Synopsis and Classification of Living Organisms. 2 vols, 1982.
SEL REF QH83 .S89
CLEMONS REF QH83 .S89 - The Five Kingdoms: An illustrated guide to the Phyla of life on Earth. 1998.
SEL REF QH83 .M36 1998
Includes useful bibliographies at the end of each section and an appendix that lists the scientific and common names for genera. - A Synoptic Classification of Living Organisms. 1984.
SEL REF QH83 .S893 1984
Definitions, Names, Basic Information
Dictionaries can be useful for identifying or verifying the common name of a disease; some also cite key articles and books and may list the first reference to a disease.
- Ainsworth & Bisby's Dictionary of the Fungi.
BP REF QK600.35 .A36 2001
Provides short descriptions and lists of references. - Dictionary of Parasitology.
BP REF QL 757 .G67 2005
E-book version
Provides over 11,5000 entries including terms associated with human, veterinary, plant, insect and fish parasitology. - Dictionary of Plant Pathology.
SEL REF SB728 .H65 1998
Provides short descriptions of diseases as well as lists of references, including citations to the first descriptions of the diseases. - Dictionary of Plant Sciences.
SEL REF QK9 .C67 2006
E-book version - Dictionary of Virology.
BP REF QR358 .M34 2001
- Elsevier's Dictionary of Fungi and Fungal Plant Diseases.
BP REF QK603.3 .E58 1998
SEL REF QK603.3 .E58 1998 - Elsevier's Dictionary of Pests and Diseases in Useful Plants.
SEL REF SB600 .E4 1995 - Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems
[electronic resource] - Fields' Virology.
BP REF QR360 .V5125 2001 vols. 1-2
BP REF QR360 .V5125 1996 vols. 1-2 - Henderson's Dictionary of Biological Terms.
BP REF QH302.5 .H65 2000
SEL REF QH302.5 .H65 2000 - McGraw Hill AccessScience: Encyclopedia of Science and Technology Online.
[electronic resource] - Oxford Dictionary of Biology.
SEL REF QH13 .D53 2000 - Springer Index of Viruses.
BP REF QR360 .S674 2002 - Virology: Directory and Dictionary of Animal, Bacterial and Plant Viruses.
SEL REF QR358 .H85 1989
Background and Descriptive Information
You can find more detailed information about diseases by using specialized encyclopedias, handbooks, manuals and guides. These sources also provide references to primary literature and additional sources of information. Examples of these sources include:
- Animal Identification: A reference guide. 3 vols.
SEL REF Z7994 .I34 A54 1980
A useful guide to the principle works that identify specific animals. Arranged systematically. Note that references for each animal group are usually subdivided into three sections: general information, species information and geographic information. For parasitic worms, there is also a host section. - The Bad Bug Book: Foodborne pathogenic microorganisms and natural toxins handbook.
[electronic resource] - CRC Handbook of Microbiology.
SEL STKS QR6 .C2 1977
Volume 1: Bacteria
Volume 2: Fungi, Algae, Protozoa and Viruses
Contains information about taxonomy and life cycles; also includes references to primary literature. - Cambridge World History of Human Disease.
SEL REF R131 .C233 1993
HS-REF R131 .C233 1993 c.1 - Encyclopedia of Life Sciences.
[electronic resource] Contains up-to-date articles on a variety of topics. Search for your organism (both scientific name and common). - Encyclopedia of Microbiology.
SEL REF QR9 .E53 2000 - Encyclopedia of Plant Pathology.
SEL REF SB728 .E53 2001 - Encyclopedia of Virology.
BP REF QR358 .E52 1994
HS-BKSTKS QR358 .E63 1994 v.1 c.1 - Encyclopedic Reference of Parasitology.
BP REF QL757 .E64 2001 vols. 1-2 - Fish Diseases and Disorders vol. 1: Protozoan and Metazoan Infections.
BP REF SH171 .F562 2006 - Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia.
SEL REF QL3 .G7813 2003
SEL REF QL3 .G7813 1972
ALD REF QL3 .G7813 1972 - Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy.
E-book version
CLEM REF RS356 .M53 1999
HS-REF #5 RC55 .M4 1999 - Merck Veterinary Manual.
SEL REF SF748 .M47 2005
E-book version - PathPort: the pathogen portal project.
[electronic resource]
- Westcott's Plant Disease.
BP REF SB731 .W47 2001
Images
There are many interesting sites for finding science-related images. Remember that when you find images on the internet, it may be difficult to determine the source (photographer, title of image, original source etc.), which makes citing images difficult. Additionally, you will need to search for your disease in several different ways. Some resources may use the scientific name - and others may use the common name. (e.g. Phakopsora meibomiae vs. soybean rust)
- Brown Science and Engineering Library Guide to Images
- Associated Press Photo Archive
- Corbis
- Google Image Search
- Nigel Cattlin's Images of World Agriculture, Plant Science & Gardening
- Science and Technology Images on the Web
- Science Image Online
- Science Photo Library
VIRGO
VIRGO is the UVa Library Catalog. For the purposes of this assignment, you will use VIRGO to search primarily for books and government documents related to your organism. Begin by searching keywords. If you find a useful item, view the "full record" for that item paying close attention to the *subject headings*. Use those words for broadening your search strategy.
IMPORTANT: VIRGO is not an article database. For scholarly research articles, you must search the databases listed under Research Resources below.
Research Resources
Article Databases
-Search the databases below to find citations to journal articles - often abstracts are provided.
-Click on Find@UVa button within the database to gain access to articles.
-Click on full-text link OR click on VIRGO to see if we have a print copy.
-If UVa does not have electronic or print access to an item, submit an Interlibrary Loan request.
-Have a citation for an article of interest you want to find? Use our Find@UVA Journal Finder page to locate which journals, magazines and newspapers the libraries subscribe to. Make sure to look up the TITLE OF THE JOURNAL not the article title. If you only have a journal abbreviation, look up the full title in Web of Science or PubMed.
- Biological Abstracts 1985+ (Ovid)
The world's premiere English-language biological and biomedical indexing and abstracting service. Provides comprehensive coverage of the journal literature in the life sciences; international in scope. Indexes approximately 6000 journals published around the world.
Print version: 1925-1984 (BSEL Journal Stacks QH301 .B37) - Web of Science (Science Citation Index) 1970+
UVA's largest multi-disciplinary science database. Indexes more than 5600 scientific and technical journals. "Citation searching" is the most unique aspect of this database - you can see who has cited a particular article since it was published.
Print version: 1961-1991 (BSEL Reference Z7401 .S37) - CAB Direct 1973+
Comprised of CAB Abstracts and Global Health databases, with more thanfour million records dating back to 1973. Indexes more than 6000 journals from more than 140 countries, with a focus on agriculture, public health and the applied life sciences. - CSA Illumina (formerly Cambridge Scientific Abstracts)
Use the Natural Sciences subject category or choose specific databases from the master list. Databases of particular interest include:
AGRICOLA (1970+)
Aquatic Science & Fisheries Abstracts (1971+)
Plant Science (1994+)
Ecology Abstracts (1982+)
Bacteriology Abstracts (1982+)
Genetics Abstracts (1982+) . . . And More!
- EconLit 1969+
Use this database to find possible economic implications of your particular disease organism. Contains international coverage of economics in journal articles, books, dissertations, book reviews. - Entrez Databases
A gateway to searching a variety of databases including PubMed, a protein sequence database, a nucleotide sequence database, various genomes, a molecular modeling database, taxonomy, population study data, human genes and disorders, various textbooks, and NCBI's gene expression and hybridization array repository (GEO) data. - Google Scholar
Google Scholar is quite helpful if your organism is obscure and you are having trouble finding information. Scholar actually searches full-text of articles, allowing you to find references which you might not have otherwise found using a subscription database. Click the Find@UVa button to determine if UVa has access to items found in Scholar. Additionally, Scholar can be helpful when you have a difficult citation you would like to verify. Definitely use Scholar during your research, but not exclusively. - InfoTrac General OneFile 1980+
Use this database to find possible economic implications of your particular disease organism. Also may be helpful for news articles with 'cool facts.' InfoTrac is a large general database of articles from popular magazines and scholarly journals covering a wide range of topics. Millions of full-text articles, many with images. - PubMed 1950+
PubMed provides access to MEDLINE, the National Library of Medicine's premiere bibliographic databases focusing on biomedical topics, in addition to relevant articles beyond the scope of MEDLINE's core subject areas. Also contains links to other Entrez databases such as the Taxonomy Browser, Nucleotide Database and more. - Zoological Record 2006+ (Ovid)
Find articles, conference proceedings, books, etc. on all aspects of zoology including biochemistry, behavior, ecology evolution, genetics, etc.
Searching Tips
From the very start, keep a notebook! You will need to search *many* different resources - keeping track of what you have done will definitely save you time.
You may be very fortunate to simply use the scientific or common name of your organism when searching for information. However, if your organism is obscure or you can't find basic information, you will need to think of other ways to search for information. Consider the following areas to search:
- General class of organisms (e.g. bacteria, fungi, viruses etc.)
- Closely related organisms (e.g. searching "Phakopsora pachyrhizi" to find out more information about "Phakopsora meibomiae")
- Host organism (e.g. diseases carried by Musca domestica, housefly)
IMPORTANT TIPS!!!
1. Break your topic up into ‘concepts.’
e.g. If we were searching on “the life cycle of the soybean rust" you may separate your search into two concepts: soybean rust AND life cycle
2. Create lists of words- to broaden your search strategy.
e.g. For life cycle, in this case, you may also search reproduc*, sex*, basidium, basidia etc. based on your particular organism.
3. Start general- and then get more focused once you learn more about your topic.
4. Combine your terms wisely- using AND . . . OR
“AND”- your concepts (life cycle* AND soybean rust)
“OR”- your synonyms (life cycle OR reproduc*) AND ("Phakopsora meibomiae" OR soybean rust)
5. Use TRUNCATION. This is when you search on the root of a word, to broaden you search. Truncation/wildcard symbol is most often '*' - but also sometimes '$'. For fungal, I would search on fung*- which would retrieve fungal, fungi, fungus . . . etc.
6. Once you start getting results, take clues from the records. Look at the article’s title, abstract, “keywords,” “subjects," "descriptors" or “subject headings.” If you find good words, write them down. You can use these in subsequent searches. Searching will be easier, as well as more powerful.
7. Don't be afraid to search again and again and again. It is unlikely that you will get all you need the first time around!
"Need to Know" Resources
Interlibrary Loan (ILL)
Interlibrary loan (ILL) is a service provided by the libraries to help you obtain articles and books which the library either does not subscribe to, or does not own. To learn more about interlibrary loan, CLICK HERE.
To register for ILL, click First Time Users, on THIS PAGE.
Refworks
Refworks is bibliographic software designed to help researchers gather, manage, store and share all types of information, as well as to generate citations and bibliographies. UVa provides accounts for all students, faculty and staff while affiliated with the University. To sign up for an account, CLICK HERE.
Want to see what RefWorks can do for you? View THIS TUTORIAL.
For more information, visit the UVa Tips and Resources page.
Citing Sources
As well as handing in the poster, you will send a copy of all the text on your poster as a paper, plus at the end, a list of the references you cite on the poster.
References should be cited in the text of the poster in the style of scientific papers (i.e. write (Smith and Jones 1995) at the end of the sentence that cites information found in Smith and Jones' article). The "Literature Cited" section of the paper you hand in should only contain articles that are cited in the text and should be in the format used in journals.
Article example:
Lockhart AB, Thrall PH, Antonovics J. 1996. The distribution and characteristics of sexually transmitted diseases in animals: ecological and evolutionary implications. Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society 71:415-471.
Chapter or article in book example:
Antonovics J. 1999. Pathogens and plant population dynamics: the effects of resistance genes on numbers and distribution. In: Traynor PM, Westwood HH. (eds.) Ecological Effects of Pest Resistance Genes in Managed Ecosystems. pp. 49-55. Information Systems for Biotechnology, Blacksburg, VA.
Image example:
Murray, C. (2007). Exchange living [Photograph]. Philadelphia, PA; Associated Press Photo/The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved January 27, 2008, from http://accuweather.ap.org
Still need help with citations? Based on the examples above, you will be using the CSE 'name-year' style of citing sources. To learn more, visit this page for additional information.
Scientific style and format : the CSE manual for authors, editors, and publishers
HS-REF T11 .S386 2006
Questions? Email Rebecca Pappert or call 434-924-3845.
