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Finding Information on an Organism

This guide is primarily for students in Biology 151, Ent/BPS/Bio 112 and other classes in which students are required to find information on an organism. If all you have been given is a name, these checklists can help you find clues to its place in the taxonomic hierarchy, who first described it, and other information.

This handout is designed to be a checklist, rather than a definitive guide on how to use the individual sources. Consult other library handouts, appropriate online help, or ask a reference librarian for further assistance. Note: Some books may be on Reserve.
Determining the classification (where it fits in):

Animals: General (including insects)

	Resource	Location, Comments
	Nomenclator Zoologicus, ed. by S.A.Neave.	Ref QL354.N4 (Covers 1758-1966 in 7 vols)
	Taxonomic index on PubMed	via PubMed through the Library Home page
	Searchable Index to Organism Names in Zoological Record	www.biosis.org/triton/indexfm.htm
	Google (Internet search engine)	www.google.com
	Index Animalium	Ref QL354 .S5 (Covers 1801-1850)
	Synopsis and Classification of Living Organisms	Ref QH83 S89x 1982 (2 vols.)
	Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia	Ref QL3 G7813 (13 vols)
	The New Larousse Encyclopedia of Animal Life	Ref QL50 .L32 1980
	Animal Life	QL101 A55 1991

Animals: California Marine Invertebrates

	Resource	Location, Comments
	Light’s Manual: Intertidal Invertebrates of the Central California Coast	QL 362 L53 1975
	Invertebrates of Southern California Waters	QL164 I58 (library has v. 1-2 only)
	Between Pacific Tides	QL138 R5 1985
	Common Intertidal Invertebrates of Southern California	QL 164 A45 1976

Plants

	Resource	Location, Comments
	Gray Herbarium Index	Ref QK11 .H37 1968
	ING: Index nominum genericorum	www.nmnh.si.edu/cgi-bin/wdb/ing/names/form
	Search Plant Taxonomy in INFOMINE	infomine.ucr.edu
	Metacrawler (internet search engine)	www.metacrawler.com

Finding books, articles or other data that may give clues to the information you need

	Resource	Comments
	Biosis (BIO & BIO85)	CDL hosted database (Melvyl) Access through Melvyl (www.melvyl.ucop.edu) or via theUCR library home page (library.ucr.edu)
	CAB & Agricola [Agriculture]	Web Databases-- access via UCR library home page
	GeoRef [Paleontology]	Melvyl
	Zoological Record [Zoology]	Ref QL1 Z65
	Web of Science [All fields]	Web database (www.webofscience.com) or via the UCR library home page (library.ucr.edu, then click on electronic resources)
	size=2>Books in the library	Melvyl or Scotty subject search on the family

Search the name of your organism in these databases. In addition, if you know who first described the organism, do a Cited Reference search in Web of Science, for example: search Andrews 1891 as a cited reference.

WORDS OF ADVICE

In most cases this assignment is not easy. You will find out about many information sources, many of which may be new to you. To learn to use the various sources, consult online help, the front of the reference book, or a library handout as appropriate. If you need more assistance, the reference librarians can guide you.

In some cases there may not be data easily available. It’s not that you’re dumb, but the sources just can’t be tracked down very easily. The library may not have all the original sources, either.

Once you find the family of your organism, you can try to find a book in MELVYL or Scotty on the family, or class, for example, "clams" or "Annelida." Check the indexes to see if your genus/species is listed.

Note that the MELVYL System or Scotty (the UCR Library Catalog) is not the best place to start your search. Biological handbooks, dictionaries and encyclopedias or a classified index, such as the Zoological Record or Gray Herbarium Index are a better first stop in order to determine what the organism is.

Watch out. Sometimes the organism name is misspelled.