Objective:
Despite perceived ubiquitous access to information via Google and other popular search engines, access to trustworthy and/or peer-reviewed scholarly/scientific literature remains problematic. And with multiple systems for accessing information, knowing where to begin can be a difficult and overwhelming task; particularly if one is not an expert or familiar with a specific area of study. Thus, the objective of this workshop and guide is to introduce you to the various resources and methods for obtaining information on plant biology. Specifically, we'll discuss using the library's research databases to find journal articles, technical reports, government documents, and other materials related to plant biology.

Using the library, databases, or other sources to find information can be complex and frustrating. If you need help at any time, please feel free to contact me and I will be happy to help you.

Peter Fritzler
Randall Library, #2074
(2nd floor, NE corner of building)
Phone: 910–962–7807
Email: fritzlerp@uncw.edu
Instant Messager (AIM): peterfritzler1

Contents of this Guide
Encyclopedias and Overview Literature Reviews and Important Journals	Finding Scientific Articles Interlibrary Loan (ILLiad)

I. Encyclopedias and Overview Literature
The list of books below provide syntheses, definitions, topic overviews, and bibliographies on a variety of subjects relating to plant biology. The library maintains many more sources than those listed here, so it is important to browse the shelves around the titles listed below to locate other relevant resources. The Reference Collection is located on the first floor of the library to the right of the library's entrance.

Selected Books (Available in Library's Reference Collection)

1. Cox, D.D. Naturalist's Guide to Seashore Plants: an Ecology for Eastern North America.
   Call Number: QK110 .C68 2003

2. Frodin, D.G. Guide to Standard Floras of the World: an Annotated, Geographically Arranged Systematic Bibliography of the Principal Floras, Enumerations, Checklists, and Chorological Atlases of Different Areas. Call Number: QK45.2 .F76 2001

3. Harris, J.G., and M.W. Harris. Plant Identification Terminology: an Illustrated Glossary.
   Call Number: QK9 .H37 2001

4. Harris, M. Botanica North America: the Illustrated Guide to our Native Plants, their Botany, History, and the Way they have Shaped our World.
   Call Number: QK115 .H365 2003 (very good book to start with for an overview)

5. Hutchinson, J. Genera of Flowering Plants, Angiospermae.
   Call Number: QK495.A56 H8 (2 volumes)

6. Wiersema, J.H., and B. León. World Economic Plants: a Standard Reference.
   Call Number: SB107 .W485 1999

7. Zomlefer, W.B. Guide to Flowering Plant Families.
   Call Number: QK115.Z65 1994 (very good book to start with for an overview)

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Selected Books (Available in Library's General Collection)

1. Cox, D.D. Naturalist's Guide to Wetland Plants: An Ecology for Eastern North America.
   Call Number: QK115 .C72 2002

2. Eastman, J. Book of Swamp and Bog: Trees, Shrubs, and Wildflowers of the Eastern Freshwater Wetlands. Call Number: QK115 .E285 1995

3. Flora of North America: North of Mexico.
   Call Number: QK110 .F55 (multiple volumes)

4. Goldberg, A. Classification, Evolution, and Phylogeny of the Families of the Monocotyledons.
   Call Number: SI 1.29:71 (Available in Library Government Document Microfiche collection)

5. Hickey, M., and C. King. 100 Families of Flowering Plants.
   Call Number: QK495.A1 H53

6. Hutchinson, J. The Families of Flowering Plants.
   Call Number: QK97 .H82 (2 volumes)

7. Judd, W.S., et al. Plant Systematics: a Phylogenetic Approach.
   Call Number: QK95 .P548 2002

8. Porter, C.L. Taxonomy of Flowering Plants.
   Call Number: QK95 .P6 1967

9. Radford, A.E. Manual of the Vascular Flora of the Carolinas.
   Call Number: QK178 .R32 1968

10. Radford, A.E., et al. Vascular Plant Systematics.
    Call Number : QK95 .V37

11. Small, J.K. Manual of the Southeastern Flora; being descriptions of the seed plants growing naturally in Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, eastern Louisiana, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. Call Number: QK125.S64 1933a (2 volumes)

12. Stuckey, I.H. Coastal Plants from Cape Cod to Cape Canaveral.
    Call Number: QK122 .S78 2000

13. Takhtajan, A. Flowering Plants: Origin and Dispersal. Translated by C. Jeffrey.
    Call Number: QK495.A56 T323 1969b

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Selected Websites

1. Botany - available from the National Biological Information Infrastructure website with links to USGS and non-USGS websites on botanical science, paleobotany, plant functions, species, applied plant science, gardening, collections and organizations, botany for kids and teachers, and references.
   Access: http://www.nbii.gov/disciplines/botany/ (Last accessed July 20, 2006)

2. PLANTS Database – available from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, PLANTS is single source of standardized information about plants. This database focuses on vascular plants, mosses, liverworts, hornworts, and lichens of the U.S. and its territories. The PLANTS Database includes names, checklists, automated tools, identification information, species abstracts, distributional data, crop information, plant symbols, plant growth data, plant materials information, plant links, references, and other plant information. Access: http://plants.usda.gov/ (Last accessed: July 20, 2006)

3. Weakley, A.S. Flora of the Carolinas, Virginia, and Georgia, and Surrounding Areas.
   Access: http://herbarium.unc.edu/flora.htm (Last accessed July 20, 2006)

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II. Reviews and Important Journals in Botanical Research

American Journal of Botany American Scientist Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden The Botanical Review Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society Current Opinion in Plant Biology International Journal of Plant Sciences Journal of Experimental Botany Journal of the Torrey Botanical Society Natural History New Scientist Phytologia Plant and Cell Physiology Plant Cell

Plant Ecology Plant Engineering  Plant Molecular Biology Plant Molecular Biology Reporter Plant Physiology Physiology Plant Physiology and Biochemistry Plant Science: an International Journal of Experimental Plant Biology Plant Science Bulletin Plant Science Letters SIDA, Contributions in Botany Systematic Botany Taxon Trends in Plant Science

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III. Finding Scientific Articles
The following databases (i.e. indexes) will be helpful for finding scientific articles relating to plant families. Particularly useful databases to begin with are Biological Abstracts and JSTOR, although each of the databases below will likely yield information on your research topics. When searching the databases try searching for your plant family's name in the title of articles. Authors of scientific papers will generally include the family's name in the title of the paper and this help you find relevant articles easier.

1. Agricola - Compiled by the National Agricultural Library of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Agricola is the most comprehensive database to citations of journal articles, theses, patents, software and technical reports on all aspects of agriculture and allied disciplines, including plant and animal sciences, forestry, entomology, soil and water resources, and food and nutrition. (1979-current).
   
   
2. Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries Abstracts (ASFA) - Premier database for literature on the science, technology & management of marine, freshwater, & brackish water environments & organisms. See the ASFA Fact Sheet for more information on using this database.
   
   
3. Authors of Plant Names (APN) - the APN database is a world list of authors of scientific plant names with the recommended standard forms of the authors' names, including abbreviations, derived from a single-volume reference book. Since 1998 the database of author names and their standard forms (which formed the basis of the Brummitt & Powell's (1992) Authors of Plant Names) has been maintained and updated on line as part of the Plant Names Project. (This database represents a significant improvement to the static one which was hitherto available on our website since it is continuously updated with new entries and additions/corrections to existing entries.) Names are still standardized according to the Brummitt & Powell rules; and you can now find authors in the International Plant Names Index database.
   
   
4. Biological Abstracts - both the electronic (1969-present) and print editions (1926-1996) are available through Randall Library. Biological Abstracts (BA) is the most comprehensive index for worldwide journal literature in the life sciences and is one of the most important index to biologists. Please see the Biological Abstracts Fact Sheet for more information on using this database.
   
   
5. Ecology Abstracts - available as part of the Cambridge Scientific Abstracts platform, Ecology Abstracts indexes journal articles, books & other sources on climate impact, conservation, ecosystems, erosion, food chains, habitats, land reclamation, pollution, soil, water resources, etc. The database is a leading source for information on the interactions between organisms and their environments (Years covered: 1982-present).
   
   
6. Index Kewensis - (2 volumes, multiple supplements), lists the names of seed-bearing plants alphabetically by genera, species, authors, native country of plant, and bibliographic references to their first publication. This list was was started in 1893, from a grant by Charles Darwin to the Kew Herbarium. A new supplement is published approximately every five years. For more information: About the Index Kewensis . Reference Collection: QK11 .I4
   
   
   Online Version: International Plant Names Index (IPNI) - A database of the names and associated basic bibliographical details of all seed plants. Its goal is to eliminate the need for repeated reference to primary sources for basic bibliographic information about plant names. The data in the IPNI comes from three sources: the Index Kewensis (IK), the Gray Card Index (GCI) and the Australian Plant Names Index (APNI).The data are freely available. Search by plant name, author, publication, or collector. A collaborative project of the: The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; Harvard University Herbaria; and Australian National Herbarium.
   
   
7. JSTOR - database with full-text access to the American Journal of Botany (1914-1998); Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden (1914-1998); Brittonia (1931-1998); International Journal of Plant Sciences (1992-1998); Botanical Gazette (1876-1991); Botanical Bulletin (1875-1876); Journal of the Torrey Botanical Society (1997-2000); Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club (1870-1996); Missouri Botanical Garden Annual Report (1890-1912); New Phytologist (1902-2000); and Systematic Botany (1976-1998).
   
   
8. PLANTS Database - single source of standardized information about plants. This database focuses on vascular plants, mosses, liverworts, hornworts, and lichens of the U.S. and its territories. The PLANTS Database includes names, checklists, automated tools, identification information, species abstracts, distributional data, crop information, plant symbols, plant growth data, plant materials information, plant links, references, and other plant information. Also includes States PLANTS list.
   
   
9. WorldCat - a combined catalog of thousands of libraries, including Randall Library. Search WorldCat if you want to search the largest universe of book and other cataloged items.

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IV. Interlibary Loan (ILLiad)
What if the Library doesn't own the journal in which your article was published? Use Randall Library's Interlibrary Loan and Document Delivery service, and the library will order articles you need from another library. This is a FREE service for students, faculty, and staff at UNCW. You do not need to know which library owns the journal that you need. Simply login into your ILLiad account and provide us with the citation, and we'll obtain the article for you. It generally takes 3-4 days for the library to process your request and obtain the article, so don't wait until the last minute for materials that you need!

To access this service, please see Randall Library's homepage ( http://library.uncw.edu ) and the section to the left of the photograph of the library. Click on the following: Interlibrary Loan.

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Last Update: 20 July, 2006 17:21