Xavier University: Library: Database Guides: Biology

For The MCAT Practice Test

Learning Express Library (quick start guide; complete list of tests; ) offers students and adults unlimited, 24/7 access to targeted skill-building interactive courses in math, reading, and writing, as well as tutorials in Microsoft Office products, including Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint, and Outlook found in the Computer Skills section. There are hundreds of online interactive practice tests that prepare users for several types of standardized testing, including tests for school achievement, school skill improvement, advanced placement, U.S. citizenship, civil service, real estate, law enforcement, military entrance, nursing school entrance, college entrance, graduate school entrance, and cosmetology, as well as the ACT, ASVAB, CBEST, CUNY, EMS, GED, GMAT, GRE, LSAT, MCAT, PPST, SAT, THEA, and TOEFL. Complete answer explanations accompany each response so that patrons understand why a particular answer is correct or incorrect. All practice tests include instant diagnostic score reports that help patrons to target those skill areas that need the most attention. To help students master the SAT and recently added essay, instant score reports provide immediate feedback on how well they performed in each of five writing skill areas. This database also provides access to electronic books and additional ACT practice tests. Click Register to set up an account. After you have set up your account, Xavier faculty, staff and students can click this link for off-campus access to nursing licensure (NCLEX) and continuing education (select Occupation Practice Tests and then scroll to Nursing & Allied Health).

Biological & Agricultural Index Plus (1983-present; Much full-text; Tutorials; RefWorks help; tutorials; XLinks) provides coverage of biological studies with a 40% focus on agriculture. It covers more than 380 publications and 200 podcasts from respected sources, including Boston's Museum of Science. Topics include agriculture, biology, environmental science, genetics, horticulture, physiology, veterinary medicine, and wildlife management. It is produced by H. W. Wilson and the user interface is provided by EBSCO Publishing.

BIOSIS Citation Index (1969-present; RefWorks help; tutorial) is one of the databases included in Web of Knowledge. It contains life sciences, biomedical, pre-clinical, and experimental research. It includes methods and instrumentation, animal studies, proceedings, patents, and books. It includes and enhances BIOSIS Previews and replaces Biological Abstracts. It is produced by and the user interface is provided by Thomson Reuters.

AGRICOLA (some 15th Century-present; some full-text; tutorials; RefWorks help; XLinks) contains materials relating to all aspects of agriculture and allied disciplines, including animal and veterinary sciences, entomology, plant sciences, forestry, aquaculture and fisheries, farming and farming systems, agricultural economics, extension and education, food and human nutrition, and earth and environmental sciences. It includes records for articles, books, serials, audiovisuals and other materials. It is produced by the National Agriculture Library and the search interface is provided by EBSCO

Environment Complete (much full-text; tutorials; RefWorks help; XLinks) contains all of the content available in Environment Index, as well as full-text for 400 journals, including many of the most used journals in the discipline; the full-text for 80 monographs; and the full-text for the conference papers of the North American Association of Environmental Education. It is produced by and the user interface is provided by EBSCO Publishing.

Garden, Landscape & Horticulture Index (many from 1990-present; much full-text; tutorials; RefWorks help; XLinks) indexes and abstracts more than 300 English language journals. It covers horticulture, garden & landscape design & history, botany, ecology, plant & garden conservation, garden management, and horticultural therapy. It is produced by and the user interface is provided by EBSCO Publishing.

Google Scholar (much full-text; RefWorks & FIND IT @ XU help) provides a simple way to broadly search for scholarly literature. From one place, you can search across many disciplines and sources: peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, abstracts and articles, from academic publishers, professional societies, preprint repositories, universities and other scholarly organizations. Google Scholar helps you identify the most relevant research across the world of scholarly research. Use the advanced search for maximum search capabilities and use Scholar preferences to display FIND IT @ XU and RefWorks direct export links.

MEDLINE, EBSCO (Some full-text; Tutorials; RefWorks help; XLinks) provides medical information on medicine, nursing, dentistry, veterinary medicine, health care and pre-clinical sciences. It indexes over 4,800 current biomedical journals. It includes citations from Index Medicus, International Nursing Index, and Index to Dental Literature. It is produced by the National Library of Medicine and the user interface is provided by EBSCO Publishing. Evidence-Based Practice Tip: To limit search results to articles with some level of evidence: Type your search strategy in the textboxes provided. At your search results, click Search Options (in right menu). The Search Options window will open and in the Publication Type selectbox hold down the Ctrl key and click Clinical Trial (and all clinical trial phases), Controlled Clinical Trial, Meta-Analysis, and Randomized Controlled Trial. Then click the Search button at top or bottom of the Search Options window.

PubMed (mid1950s-present; updated daily; some full-text; RefWorks help; XLinks) provides free access to the bibliographic information contained in MEDLINE and OLD MEDLINE. It provides abstracts and indexing for over 5,000 periodicals in medicine, nursing, dentistry, veterinary medicine, health care and preclinical sciences. Coverage is worldwide with extensive links to genomic information. It also includes the MEDLINE subsets AIDSLINE, BIOETHICSLINE, and HEALTHSTAR - search these subsets separately by clicking Topic-Specific Queries and then selecting the subset you want. It is produced by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) and the user interface is provided by the Entrez retrieval system of the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI). Evidence-Based Practice Tip: To limit search results to articles with some level of evidence: Click Clinical Queries in the left sidebar. Select an appropriate Category and Emphasis. Use a broad Emphasis to retrieve more articles. If necessary, select other limits (e.g., English language or date) to reduce retrieval.

Scopus (much full-text; 1823-present; RefWorks help) contains 18,500 titles with 70% from international sources. It includes 17,000 peer-reviewed journals, over 3 million conference papers, 600 trade publications, 24 million patents, and 359 book series. It covers the arts & humanities as well as the social, health, physical, and life sciences. Users can search by keyword, author, article title, journal, and other parameters. Citations include cited references and times cited information as well as journal ranking information. This database contains about 2,400 embedded full-text journals in addition to the full-text provided via OhioLINK. It is produced by and the user interface is provided by Elsevier. XU faculty, staff, and students need to authenticate via OhioLINK both on and off campus using their MyXU portal username and password.

Science Citation Index (SCI) (alternative link; 1980-present; updated weekly; some full-text; RefWorks help; tutorial; citation alerts; saving searches & creating alerts; journal titles) is one of the citation databases included in Web of Knowledge. Click Web of Science and then change Current Limits to search this database separately. It provides bibliographic information and cited references for over 5,700 scientific research journals. It covers agriculture, astronomy, biology, chemistry, computer science, dentistry, ecology, engineering, environmental sciences, geography, mathematics, medicine, physics, plant sciences, psychiatry, veterinary sciences, and zoology. Click Sign In to save searches and receive search history and citation alerts. It is produced by and the user interface is provided by Thomson Reuters. Evidence-Based Practice Tip: To limit search results to articles with some level of evidence: Type your topic in the text boxes provided. Type your academic discipline (e.g., occupational therapy, social work, nursing) in the next available text box. Type research in the next available text box. Click the down arrow adjacent to the last two text boxes and select Topic.

Academic Search Complete (1985-present; updated daily; more full-text; tutorials; RefWorks help; XLinks) is a multidisciplinary database that covers nearly all academic areas of study. It indexes and abstracts over 9,300 journals, many of them peer-reviewed (4,400), and provides full-text for over 5,300 journals. It also includes indexing and abstracts for books, reports, conference proceedings, etc. Searchable cited references are provided for 1,000 journals. It is produced by and the user interface is provided by EBSCO Publishing.

Article First (1990-present; updated daily; some full-text; RefWorks help) is an index of articles listed on table of contents pages of over 12,000 journals. It indexes articles, news stories and letters. It covers business, humanities, medicine, popular culture, science, social science and technology. Most items include a list of libraries that have the journal title. It also includes ContentsFirst. It is produced and the user interface is provided by OCLC (Online Computer Library Center).

BioMed Central (some full-text; RefWorks Help; XLinks) provides access to 100 online and print-based journals as well as Faculty of 1000, a literature evaluation service. All research articles and most other content are fully and rapidly peer-reviewed. The form of peer review is left to those responsible for the editorial control of participating journals. Authors retain copyright to their articles. It is produced by contributing authors and participating journals, and the user interface is provided by BioMed Central.

Electronic Journal Center (about 1995-present; updates dependent upon publisher; all full-text; RefWorks help; XLinks; saving searches) is a multidisciplinary collection of about 5,000 journals published by Academic Press, American Chemical Society, American Institute of Physics, American Physical Society, American Psychological Association (PsycARTICLES), Association of Computing Machinery, Berkeley Electronic Press, BioOne, Blackwell, Cambridge University Press, Elsevier, Emerald (MCB University Press), Ingenta, Institute of Physics, Kluwer, Lawrence Erlbaum, Optical Society of America, Oxford University Press, Project MUSE, Royal Society of Chemistry, Springer-Verlag, Thieme and Wiley. Scholars can be notified by email about new relevant articles according to subject, author or journal title. It is compiled by and the user interface is provided by OhioLINK.

Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETD) Center (2000-present; all full-text; RefWorks help; XLinks) is a database of masters' theses and doctoral dissertations submitted by graduate students matriculating at higher education institutions in Ohio. It is produced by participating Ohio colleges and universities and the user interface is provided by OhioLINK. Evidence-Based Practice Tip: All articles in this database should have some level of evidence.

Food Science Source (Much full-text; Tutorials; RefWorks help; XLinks) contains over 1,000 food industry and market reports as well as thousands of articles, benchmarks, and best practices from trade and industry publications. Content covers topics such as agribusiness, food & beverage science, food sustainability, food packaging, food safety, food service, food shipping, food/culinary innovation, food-related product development, food in different countries/cultures, and nutrition. It includes images, tables, charts, and other graphical content. It is produced by and the user interface is provided by EBSCO Publishing.

Green FILE (much full-text; tutorials; RefWorks help; XLinks) indexes scholarly and general interest titles, as well as government documents and reports. This resource offers a unique perspective on the positive and negative ways humans affect the environment. Drawing on the connection between the environment and disciplines such as agriculture, education, law, health and technology, it serves as an informative resource for anyone concerned about the issues facing our planet. The database contains nearly 300,000 records, full text for selected titles and searchable cited references for more than 200 titles. It is produced by and the user interface is provided by EBSCO Publishing.

GREENR (all full-text; RefWorks help; XLinks) stands for Global Reference on the Environment, Energy, and Natural Resources (GREENR). It brings together academic journal, newspaper, and magazine articles, as well as reference and primary sources, conference presentations and reports, statistics, case studies, podcasts, videos, images, Websites and blogs, involvement suggestions, and related portals on hundreds of green topics and issues. Users can search or browse green topics such as energy, the environment, pollution, ecology, and resource management, as well as green-related issues in agriculture, food systems, science, technology, economics, trade, law, and politics. It is produced by and the user interface is provided by Gale Cengage Learning.

JSTOR (1st issue of 1st volume to 3 years from present; all full-text; Video tutorial; Handout tutorial; RefWorks help; XLinks; title list) provides online access to back issues of selected scholarly journals in a variety of academic disciplines including the arts, business, demographic studies, humanities, social sciences, and science. The multidisciplinary arts & sciences collection was updated in June 2009 with an additional 120 titles, bringing the total number of journals in this collection to 749. JSTOR also includes 8,200 19th Century British pamphlets. It is produced by and the user interface is provided by JSTOR, a not-for-profit organization that serves and is supported by the scholarly community. NOTE: journal content published prior to 1923 in the US and prior to 1870 elsewhere is freely available to the public for reading and downloading (nearly 500.000 articles from more than 200 journals).

LexisNexis Academic (all full-text; RefWorks help; Shepardize handout) covers a wide variety of subjects including law, government, international affairs, politics, current events, business and medicine. Legal research provides federal and state cases, Shepard's citations, federal and state codes, tax law, Canadian court cases and legislation, law reviews, and patents. Business research allows users to create company profiles, lists, and comparisons, as well as SEC filings, account and country profiles. Company reports can be created and data can be downloaded into spreadsheets. The People tab allows users to find obituaries, elected officials, and industry contacts. It is compiled by and the user interface is provided by LexisNexis.

Oxford Reference Online (Using this resource; all full-text; XLinks) is a cross-searchable database of more than 125 quick reference dictionaries and 189 in-depth encyclopedias. It covers general reference as well as specific subject categories: archaeology, art and architecture, bilingual dictionaries, classical studies, encyclopedias, English dictionaries and thesauri, history, language reference, law, linguistics, literature, media studies, medicine and health, music, names studies, performing arts, philosophy, quotations, religion, science and technology, social sciences, and society and culture. All subject categories can be searched separately. Reference types include overview pages, subject reference, timelines, quotations, English dictionaries, and bilingual dictionaries. It is published by and the user interface is provided by Oxford University Press. This subscription is limited to 5 simultaneous users. No reader is required to use these electronic books. The best way to find ebooks is in the XPLORE Library Catalog. Just look for the ebook icon:

Proceedings First (1993-present; updated 2 times/week; RefWorks help) offers citations of every published congress, symposium, conference, exposition, workshop, and meeting received by the British Library Document Supply Centre. It contains in each record a list of the papers presented at each conference. It is produced by and the user interface is provided by OCLC (Online Computer Library Center).

ProQuest Dissertations and Theses (PQDT) (1861-last semester; updated daily; first 24 pages free full-text; RefWorks Help) contains over 2 million entries for doctoral dissertations and master's theses from over 1,000 North American graduate schools and European universities. More recent dissertations and theses are available electronically and may be downloaded for a fee. Frequently, users may also obtain a copy without cost through the library's document delivery services. It is produced by and the user interface is provided by ProQuest.

ProQuest Nursing & Allied Health Source (Formerly ProQuest Nursing Journals; 1986-present; all full-text; RefWorks help; XLinks; title list) offers the full-text of 444 nursing and related publications. Special resource links on the home page includes Evidence Summaries, Systematic Reviews, and Best Practice Information Sheets from the Joanna Briggs Institute. There are also cultural competency briefs by religion and ethnicity as well as 75 video training programs. Study paths permit users to view full-text articles recommended by a board of experienced nurse educators on topics relevant to the typical nursing curriculum in practical and registered nursing. It is produced by and the user interface is provided by ProQuest.

ProQuest Statistical Datasets (formerly LexisNexis Statistical; exportable data; users guide) includes datasets from many sources, including the US government, international organizations, and the private sector. It covers all subject areas, including banking and finance, criminal justice and law, education, energy resources and demand, food and agriculture, government and politics, health and vital statistics, housing and construction, industry and commerce, international; labor and employment, natural resources and environment, population and income, prices and cost of living, stocks and commodities, and transportation and travel. Users can search datasets by keyword; browse datasets by subject or source; display datasets by trend, map or ranking; and output datasets in print, PDF, delimited, Excel or SAS formats. Datasets can be limited by date and geographic area (country, state, county). Years available varies by dataset; for example, births 1999-present and breast cancer 1973-present. It also features datasets currently in the news, such as crude oil price, 30-year fixed mortgage rate, airline on-time arrival rate, campaign contributions for both Obama and McCain, gasoline prices, the prime rate and the unemployment rate. It is compiled by and the user interface is provided by ProQuest. Users will need to run the Java installation.

Science Online (all full-text; XLinks) is an online encyclopedia and NOT the journal, Science. It offers a comprehensive, curriculum-oriented overview of a broad range of scientific disciplines including biology and life sciences, chemistry, computer science, earth science, environmental science, forensic science, mathematics, physics, space and astronomy, and weather and climate. Content is organized by subject area and type of resource, as well as by national and state science education standards. It contains over 6,800 printable diagrams, illustrations and images; hundreds of videos and flash animations; over 1,000 science experiments and activities indexed by grade and time required; thousands of biographies of key scientists; thousands of definitions; a searchable timeline of science history; and national and state science education standards. Special features include Editor's Selection of the Month and Focus On. It is produced by and the user interface is provided by Facts on File.