Biology

There are two main types of articles you'll come across in these databases and here's how to recognize the difference between the two:

Scholarly research article (sometimes called a primary article, a research article, or an empirical research article)  

This reports on original research, meaning the researchers conducted their own research, gathered and analyzed data, and reported on the findings.  These articles are recognizable as they are generally organized into IMRaD:

Introduction (including a literature review)

Methods

Results

(and)

Discussion 

Scholarly review articles

This articles are generally reporting on what is known about a specific topic and is a survey of the primary research literature.  The authors of these articles are not reporting on their own data or results but rather summarizing the research of others to develop a broad perspective on the topic. Does not adhere to the IMRaD format, though general methods for selecting the primary literature reviewed within the article may be included.

These resources cover the entire breadth and span of biology and biology-related topics.

These are specialty resources for plants, animals, and ecology topics

These are specialty databases for cell, molecular, and biomedical topics.

Off-campus access to resources is available to all WCU students. Two notes:

1. Login procedures require your campus email username and password.
2. Off-campus access will REQUIRES you access resources by beginning at the library. If you don't do this, you may hit a paywall. Don't pay! Try again through the library.