LibGuides: Organic Farmer Training Program: Article Research

Articles - the basics

Articles contain the most current information published in a field of study. The Library Catalog contains the titles to all of the print and electronic format journals to which we subscribe. The Catalog does not list the articles within the journals. The specific articles can be found in article databases.

Most professors and researchers prefer articles that are "scholarly" or "peer-reviewed" in nature. Characteristics of scholarly journals are that they have the following qualities

The articles contain original research (such as scientific experiments, surveys and research studies)
A list of references or sources is provided at the end of each article
An editorial board, composed of experts in the field, reviews articles to decide whether they should be accepted; this is also known as "refereed," "peer-reviewed," "professional," or "academic".
Uses a specialized vocabulary for that field.
Contain few if any advertisements. If included, they are highly specialized and specific to scholarly discipline (i.e. specific laboratory equipment, medical tools and drugs).

Popular, Scholarly, and Trade Article Comparison Chart
A chard comparing the differences between these three article types.

UlrichsWeb This link opens in a new window
If you are still uncertain about the scholarly nature of a journal, you all look up the title or ISSN in the periodical database UlrichsWeb (Ulrich 's International Periodicals Directory). It contains subscription, publisher, ISSN and other information on 250,000 active and ceased serials worldwide: magazines, journals, annuals and more.

Article Research - General Agricultural and Plant Sciences

CAB Abstracts This link opens in a new window
1910-
CAB covers the subject of agriculture in the broadest sense. It includes: agronomy, biotechnology, crop protection, dairy science, economics, environmental degradation and remediation, forestry, genetics, herbicides, irrigation, leisure, recreation and tourism, microbiology, nutrition, parasitology, rural development, veterinary medicine and much more. Journals, monographs, conferences, books, annual reports and other sources from more than one country are scanned regularly for inclusion in the database.
Garden, Landscape and Horticulture Index This link opens in a new window
The Garden, Landscape and Horticulture Index is a popular and scholarly index to over 300 journals on gardening, horticulture, landscape design, botany, ecology, plant conservation, garden management, and horticultural therapy.
Gale OneFile: Gardening and Horticulture This link opens in a new window
Gardening, Landscape & Horticulture Collection serves horticultural enthusiasts of all levels with more than 3.6 million articles from more than 100 journals, as well as more than 20 reference titles from Delmar, including Handbook of Flowers; Foliage and Creative Design; Computer Graphics for Landscape Architects; and more.

Acta Horticulturae - Proceedings by International Society for Horticultural Science (ISHS)
Acta Horticulturae (ISSN 0567-7572) is a series of scientific technical publications, mainly the proceedings of International Society for Horticultural Science (ISHS) Symposia and the ISHS International Horticultural Congress.

Biological & Agricultural Index Plus This link opens in a new window
1983-
Provides information from groundwater pollution to genetic engineering and covers the entire range of sciences related to biology and agriculture. Indexes 226 key periodicals in the life sciences and agriculture. Includes current book reviews.
Biological Abstracts This link opens in a new window
Biological Abstracts is a comprehensive reference database covering life sciences journal literature. It covers the following fields: Botany, Microbiology, Pharmacology, Biochemistry, Evolutionary ecology, Kinseology, Neurology, and Toxicology. Coverage from 1926 to the present. Web of Science platform.
BioOne Complete This link opens in a new window
BioOne launched its original aggregation, BioOne.1, with 40 titles in 2001. In January 2007 BioOne added BioOne.2, a complementary collection of 40 new titles. Now at maturity, BioOne Complete about 200 high-impact publications. BioOne.1 provides the scholarly community with a must-have collection of critical, high-quality titles across the biological, ecological, and environmental sciences.
ScienceDirect This link opens in a new window
1995-
ScienceDirect (from Elsevier) provides access to the full text of over 2,000 journals, from 1995 to present (with extended coverage for some titles). It also contains electronic books. Coverage includes strong content in the physical sciences. Personalization options for table of contents alerts, saving searches, etc., are available.
SpringerLink This link opens in a new window
SpringerLink is the platform for European based publisher Springer. It provides online access to reference works and other e-books, in addition to their journals in the scientific, technical, and medical fields. PLEASE NOTE MSU LIBRARIES HAS NOT PURCHASED ALL CONTENT ON THIS PLATFORM.
AGRICOLA This link opens in a new window
1970-
Covers every major agricultural subject, including agricultural engineering and marketing, animal breeding, entomology, environmental pollution, farm management, foods and feeds, pesticides, rural sociology, veterinary medicine, and water resources. Citations consist of journal articles, book chapters, monographs, conference proceedings, serials, technical reports, and other materials on a range of agricultural topics.

Floriculture InfoSearch
Floriculture InfoSearch is a powerful, but focused search engine designed to bring you floriculture information from the scientific literature, trade and association magazines/websites, NC State University, and the American Floral Endowment Floriculture Archive (repository of literature dating back to the 1800s). Use this search engine for all of your floriculture questions

Grow: Plant Health Exchange This link opens in a new window
The Plant Management Network is a unique cooperative resource for the applied plant sciences. Designed to provide plant science practitioners fast electronic access to proven solutions, the Plant Management Network offers an extensive searchable database comprised of thousands of web-based resource pages from the network's partner universities, companies, and associations. In addition, the network's three peer-reviewed citable journals, Applied Turfgrass Science, Crop Management, Forage and Grazinglands, and Plant Health Progress, provide credible current information in areas important to practitioners, policy makers, and the public.
Web of Science This link opens in a new window
Includes the Institute for Scientific Information Citation Indexes - Arts and Humanities, Social Science, and Science. It indexes science, social sciences, and arts and humanities information from nearly 9,300 of the most prestigious, high impact research journals in the world.
Groundwater and Soil Contamination Database This link opens in a new window
This database published by the American Geological Institute includes over 60,000 references to documents published since 1975. Over 1,000 new references will be added in each quarterly update. Coverage is worldwide, with emphasis on the United States. Journal articles, books, conference proceedings, theses and dissertations are included. Also covered are all relevant reports of the U.S. Geological Survey, and reports of the U.S. Departments of Energy, Defense, Health and Human Services, and the Interior, and the Environmental Protection Agency.