A good starting place to find articles is in the following Biology databases. There are more listed on the main Biology subject guide.
Research articles, which may also be known as scholarly or peer-reviewed articles may be found in a number of Library-subscribed databases, including ScienceDirect, Biological Sciences and many others.
Tips for Finding Articles:
Using the Peer-Reviewed limiter narrows your search to peer-reviewed articles, especially important if you are using a general database such as Academic Search Premier. Another way to limit your search in general databases or a Discovery search is with the Academic Journal limiter.
It may seem wrong to NOT use the full-text limiter when you need to find full text of articles, but doing so can keep you from finding articles that are available in other databases besides the one you are searching.
Use publication date limiters when you need search results within a certain date range.
Once you find information on your topic, be sure to evaluate your results.
Use the CRAAP Test to evaluate your results
Currency: Timeliness of information, working Web links
Relevance: Importance of information
Authority: Who is the source? Is it a professional organization or a university?
Accuracy: Is there evidence to support findings, is an article peer-reviewed?
Purpose: Is the purpose to inform, teach, sell, entertain, or persuade?
*Created by Sarah Blakeslee, Meriam Library, California State University, Chico
Scholarly or Peer Reviewed articles have been refereed, or reviewed, before publication, by peers of an article's author(s). Common components include:
For more information, see Anatomy of a Scholarly Article from North Carolina State University, or Properties of Scholarly, Trade and Popular Journals from the University of Texas San Antonio, or ask one of our librarians.Another useful resource is Evaluating Print vs. Internet Sources.