Science Database Search Systems
Electronic database searching provides a means of finding bibliographic, numeric, directory, molecular sequence, or full-text information by connecting to an online storage and retrieval system. Discipline-specific databases are created by database producers such as BIOSIS, Chemical Abstract Service or the National Library of Medicine. Vendors lease these databases and make the information available by controlling the mechanics of interaction with the host computer. The search systems associated with different vendors vary in complexity and flexibility, with some designed to be very user-friendly while others are intended for expert searchers.
The following is a list of search systems used by vendors of the science databases available at the College of Wooster. For descriptions of the databases, see Selected Databases for Research in Science.
Search
System/ Vendor |
Description |
Science
Databases |
OSearch/ OhioLINK |
Provides access to electronic databases covering all disciplines using a common, user-friendly search interface. Users can determine whether OhioLink libraries hold the cited journal by using the "Check Availability" option. The "Retrieve Full-Text" option links directly to the cited article in the OhioLink Electronic Journals Center database. | BIOSIS Previews Compendex Historical Compendex GeoRef INSPEC INSPEC Archive MEDLINE |
FirstSearch/ OCLC |
Provides user-friendly access to databases in many disciplines. | ArticleFirst GPO Monthly Catalog Papers First Proceedings First |
EBSCOhost/ EBSCO Publishing |
This vendor provides access to indexing and full-text databases at all levels and in a wide variety of disciplines. | Academic Search Complete AGRICOLA Alt HealthWatch CINAHL Plus Computers and Applied Sciences Complete Environment Complete Health Source: Consumer Edition MEDLINE with Full Text |
| ISI Web of Science/ Thomson Corp. |
The three multidisciplinary citation databases in ISI’s Web of Science contain bibliographic information indexed so that users may search by subject or author. The cited references, or bibliography of each article, are also indexed so users can also locate articles that cite a known author or work. | Science Citation Index Expanded Social Science Citation Index Art and Humanities Citation Index |
SciFinder
Scholar/ Chemical Abstracts Service |
CAS, a division of the American Chemical Society, provides access to research literature relevant to chemistry, biomedicine and related subjects. SciFinder Scholar is a user-friendly interface to the CAS databases. (Available in the Timken Science Library computer laboratory.) | CAPlus REGISTRY CASREACT CHEMCATS CHEMLIST MEDLINE |
Entrez/ NCBI |
The National Center for Biotechnology Information creates and maintains protein, nucleotide, and genome databases. Entrez, NCBI’s search and retrieval system, allows researchers to integrate information from these databases, and bibliographic data from the National Library of Medicine’s PubMed database. In addition, NCBI develops software tools (e.g., BLAST) for analyzing data deposited in these databases. | PubMed Nucleotide (GenBank) Protein Genome Structure Taxonomy PubChem OMIM PubMed Central |
