MB 440: Food Microbiology

• Medline (EBSCOhost)
  topics covered include clinical and experimental medicine; microbiology; pathology; pharmacology; physiology; reproductive biology; toxicology; and veterinary medicine.
  Coverage Dates: 1950 - present
• AGRICOLA (EBSCOhost)
  topics covered include agricultural research (including food and microbiological research)
  Coverage Dates: 1970
• Environmental Sciences & Pollution Management (ESPM)
  covers environmental sciences topics, and contains a subset of databases that focus on microorganisms, microbial degradation, antibiotic activity and production, microbial toxins, soil microorganisms and environmental pollution.
  Coverage Dates: 1967 - present

To search for a topic you will need to use an article database (not the ejournals list - more about using ejournals below).  

• If you know the name of a good database for your project already, use the alphabet key on the databases page to navigate to your database. 
  
• If you don't know the database name, use the subject pull down menu at the top of the databases page to choose your subject area.  Click on the red "I" to get more information about each database.  
  

Break your topic down.  Article databases often work best when you put a single idea in each search box.  For example, the research topic "how is PCR using in detecting salmonella in tomatoes" could be broken down into three main ideas - Salmonella, PCR, and tomatoes.  Each of these ideas would go in their own search box or be separated by "and."

Use Synonyms.  Scientists often refer to words in a variety of different terms than you may be used to.  Try different search words to come up with the best results.  For example, you might need to try polymerase chain reaction instead of PCR or lycopersicum for tomato.

Find the article.  Not all databases have full-text articles, and sometimes we have the article available electronically, but it is not immediately available from the database with one click. If you do not see a PDF icon for the article within the database, you have 3 options -

• you can click on the "get this item" button which will help you discover whether or not our library has the article,
• copy the name of the journal title, open another tab or window to the library's homepage, click on the ejournals link and paste the name of the journal in the search box,  once you have opened the journal, find the right volume, issue and page number for your article,
• if the journal title is not in the ejournals list, paste the title into the library's catalog (use the title search) to see if we have it (either electronically or in print). 

• Does the source have a bibliography? This can lead you to other sources.
• Is there an author listed as part of the citation? Judging authority can be difficult without an author.
• Is the journal refereed (peer reviewed)?
• How old is the source? Will this matter for your topic? Currency of information can be important. Some aspects of a topic may need currency more than others.
• What other terminology is being used either by the author or by the database? Keep an eye out for other words you can use in your search statements.
• Does the OSU Libraries own the journal (either in print or electronically)? If we don't own it, it will take more time to get your hands on the source.

The following websites give some tips on how to read scientific journal articles:

Reading a scientific article

How to Read a Journal Article 

My brief advice for reading journal articles is to keep a pen handy to write notes to yourself in the margins, and always write a summary of what you learned from the paper at the top of the paper or on a post-it note immediately after you finish reading the paper.

• Worksheet for Evaluating a Journal Article
  You can use this worksheet to guide you through the process of reading a scientific article.