Search Tips and Strategies
1. Generate a set of terms related to your topic. These will be the keywords with which you begin searching.
Frank Church public land preservation
Edward Abbey ocean conservation
Rachel Carson beach access activism
Nature Conservancy DDT protections
Surfrider Foundation watershed
2. Combine your keywords in various ways:
"public land" AND (conserv* OR preserv*) = Using the AND operator narrows your search to only results that mention both keywords. Use the OR operator to search for variants or synonyms of the same keyword. The asterisk (*) is a wildcard symbol that is used to catch variant endings of a word (femin* = feminine, femininity, feminism).
“species protection” AND "united states" = Use quotation marks to search for an exact phrase
An example of a concept map to demonstrate the need to narrow and focus your research interests and questions.
Biology books are on the 3rd floor of the Armacost Library. Journals are on the 2nd floor, the entry level of the library. If you would like to browse the books & journals, use the chart below to determine the relevant call number range. Otherwise, search the library catalog to find books by subject, title and author.
Call Number | Subject |
---|---|
QH | Natural history, biology |
QH 1-278.5 | Natural history (general) |
QH 301-358 | General biology (general) |
QH 359-425 | Evolution |
QH 426-470 | Genetics |
QH 471-489 | Reproduction |
QH 501-531 | Life |
QH 540-549.5 | Ecology |
QH 573-671 | Cytology |
QH 705-705.5 | Economic biology |
QK | Botany |
QL | Zoology |
QL 1-355 | General zoology |
QL 461-599.82 | Insects |
QL 614-639.8 | Fishes |
QL 640-669.3 | Reptiles and amphibians |
QL 671-699 | Birds |
QL 700-739.8 | Mammals |
QL 750-795 | Animal Behavior |
QL 801-950.9 | Anatomy |
QL 951-999 | Embryology |
QM | Human Anatomy |
QP | Physiology |
QR | Microbiology |
The call number gives the location of the book; it's the book's address. You know the call number, you know where to look. View some maps of the Armacost Library.