Library Research in Parasitology

Prepared by Anne Turhollow for Biology 588
Fall 2002

Overview

Background Resources

Searching for Infomation
In Journals
In Books
On the Web
    About the Internet
    Directories
    Search Engines
    Interesting Sites

Evaluating What You Find

Presenting Your Findings

Need Help?

Searching for Information on the Web

We've all seen the ads or heard the hype: It's all on the Internet and it's all free. WRONG! Lots of information is not on the Internet; almost all books and most journals are not available. And it's certainly not free. (Think about it - if the library pays a publisher $3000 a year for a journal subscription, is that same publisher going to put that information up on the Internet for free?) Yes, we are beginning a transition to electronic formats, but it's going to take awhile. And it will be even longer before older journal articles and books are converted. (If ever!)

However, there is some very good information out there on the Internet, you just have to find it. Some journals are available on the World-Wide Web; a list of the ones available to this library and its patrons is on the Library's website. And as you will see below a number of institutions have developed some well thought out and informative sites.

About the Internet

Some starting points if you are unfamilar with the Internet:

Bare Bones 101: A Basic Tutorial on Searching the Web is a good way to get a quick, simple introduction or a refresher in how to search for information on the Internet. Created by Ellen Chamberlain of the University of South Carolina Beaufort Library.
Finding Information on the Internet is a tutorial from the UC Berkeley Libraries. Includes sections on what the Internet is, how to search and a suggested order for using search tools.

Some Directories for Parasitology

Directories are large listings complied by humans. While some attempt to cover all areas, there are a few which focus on biology. Most directories evaluate sites for content before adding them to their lists.

Infomine for Biological, Agricultural, and Medical Sciences: A large (22,000) selection of resources compiled primarily by the librarians at UC Riverside. Resources need to substantial, authoritative, or comprehensive in nature to be included.
WWW Virtual Library - Parasitology: A site maintained by David Gibson, Head of the Parasitic Worms Division at the British Natural History Museum. Well organized and easy to navigate.
Metin Korkmaz's Parasitology Resources: Organized by broad categories, connecting may be slow as site is located at Ege University in Turkey. Site is maintained by Metin Korkmaz.
K-State Parasitology Laboratory: Grouped into four large categories of Cryptosporidium, parasitology journals and societies, other related links, and cryptozoology. Maintained by Professor Steve Upton, Kansas State University Division of Biology.

There are two general directories worth looking at:

LII - Librarians' Index to the Index: A small (8,000) but choice set of sites with a nice focus on California. A project of the Library of California.
Scout Report and Archives: A larger collection of sites than LII with more of an academic focus. Maintained by the Scout Project based at the Computer Science Department at the University of Wisconsin.

Search Engines

Search engines use machine created databases that do not evaluate resources. You will need to use several of them as no one search engine can encompass the entire World Wide Web. A good starting point is the Recommended Search Tools page from the InFoPeople Project. They also provide a quick overview of search tips for these tools. My personal favorite at the moment is Google. There is a more limited search engine, Scirus, which focuses just on scientific resources and does include a few journal articles.

Selected Web Sites

SciCentral: Includes research news as well as websites. A good place to keep up on scientific information in general. Provided by the company SciQuest.
American Society of Parasitology: The main organzation of parasitologists in the United States
Research at the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution: The NMNH conducts research in a large number of areas including parasitology, specifically parasitic copepods.
British Museum (Natural History): One focus of the Musuem is human and animal health.
Argicultural Research Service, USDA: One area of focus is parasitic diseases of agricultural animals and plants.
DPDx: Identification and diagnosis of parasites of public health concern: A laborartory manual from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.