Neuroscience Research Guide

The major purpose of class assignments is to write a paper based on your search of published literature. The purpose of the research guide is to introduce you to the process of literature search and familiarize you with a variety of sources available for you.

Books
Journal Articles (Search Databases)
Journals (Browse E-Journals)
Internet Resources

Prof. Inna Shpilko

Bibliographer for Neuroscience

Neuroscience Research Guide

Select a topic that is of interest to you. If in doubt, talk to your instructor regarding a chosen topic. You might want to seek help from reference librarians who are knowledgeable about search strategies necessary for locating needed information.

As an initial step of your research, gather background information of your topic in general and/or specialized encyclopedias or dictionaries. These reference sources provide useful overviews of a topic and may include in their bibliographies resources you can further use in your paper. Then, search the CUNY online catalog or other catalogs to locate relevant books.

Books

Encyclopedias and Dictionaries

Encyclopedia of Neuroscience (Ref. RC334 .E53 1999)
Encyclopedia of the Human Brain (Ref. QP376 .E586 2002)
Gale Encyclopedia of Neurological Disorders
Gale Virtual Reference Library

Handbooks, Manuals, etc.

Fundamental Neuroscience (Ref. QP355.2 .F862 2008)
Handbook of Binding and Memory: Perspectives from Cognitive Neuroscience (Ref. BF371 .H355 2006)
Handbook of Brain Theory and Neural Networks (Ref. QP363.3 .H36 2003)
Handbook of Clinical Child Neuropsychology (Ref. RJ486.5 .H26 1997)
Mental Measurements Yearbook
Neuroscience (Ref. RC343.6 .L66 2005)
Neuroscience: Exploring the Brain (QP355.2 .B42 2007, CD-ROM)
Praeger Handbook of Learning and the Brain (Ref. LB1060 .P683 2006, 2 vols.)

Find Books

The CUNY Catalog: Search for books and other materials at the Queens College Libraries, as well as other CUNY libraries.
Other Library Catalogs: Search the library catalogs of regional libraries such as the Queens Library, Brooklyn Public Library, New York University, Columbia University, etc.
WorldCat: Search for books in the national catalog for the United States and Canada. This database includes holdings from libraries in other parts of the world, primarily European or English-speaking.

Citation Style Manuals

Editorial style is used to present written material. Editorial style consists of rules or guidelines that a publisher complies with to ensure uniform presentation of written material. Consult our page on Citation Styles Manuals for more information about APA style, as well as other citation styles (MLA, Chicago, etc.). Create and format your bibliography automatically by using the web-based application called RefWorks.

Journal Articles (Search Databases)

Search online databases or periodical indexes to identify journal articles you want to read. A journal article is written by a scholar or an expert, and provides a detailed analysis of a topic. Sometimes, searching one database is not enough. Search multiple databases to obtain the most comprehensive information. You can find bibliographic citations to books and journal articles, as well as full text of some documents.

Most of the databases listed below are available for Queens College faculty and students through the library subscriptions and could be found on the QC Libraries Home page.

Academic Search Complete: Comprehensive source for scholarly journals in all academic disciplines. More than 8,000 publications are indexed, and full text is provided for 4500. Most are peer-reviewed. Searchable cited reference sources are provided for selected titles.
Health Source: Nursing/Academic Edition: Scholarly journals in many medical disciplines. Includes Lexi-PAL Drug Guide, covering 1,300 generic drug patient education sheets with more than 4,700 brand names. For topics such as nursing, allied health, and prescription drugs.
MEDLINE (EBSCO): Citations from Index Medicus, International Nursing Index, Index to Dental Literature, HISTLINE, SPACELINE, PREMEDLINE, AIDSLINE, BIOETHICSLINE, HealthSTAR, covering medicine, nursing, dentistry, veterinary medicine, health.
MEDLINE/PubMed: Free access to biomedical information. Citations from Index Medicus, International Nursing Index, Index to Dental Literature, HISTLINE, SPACELINE, PREMEDLINE, AIDSLINE, BIOETHICSLINE, HealthSTAR, covering medicine, nursing, dentistry, veterinary medicine, health.
PsycArticles: Peer-reviewed journal articles and book reviews in psychology from 63 journals. Fifty are published by the American Psychological Association (APA), and thirteen from allied organizations.
PsycINFO: Citations and summaries of scholarly journal articles, book chapters, books, and dissertations, in the field of psychology and related disciplines, such as psychiatry, pharmacology, nursing. Covers psychological aspects of the social sciences.
Science Direct (Elsevier): Articles from over 900 journals in science, technology, and medicine.
Science Reference Center: Biology, Chemistry, Health and Medicine, Life Sciences, Psychology, etc.
Web of Science: Web portal to the citation indexes for the arts & humanities, social sciences, and sciences.
Wiley Interscience: Biology, Chemistry, Geology, Physics, Psychology.

Journals (Browse E-Journals)

American Medical Association

Citations and abstracts from 12 medical journals, including The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

Annual Review of Neuroscience

Provides definitive critical review of the scientific research literature in neuroscience.

Nature

Includes Nature, the multidisciplinary weekly journal of science, as well as Nature research journals and Nature Reviews journals. Covers topics such as genetics, evolution, biotechnology, clinical practice, and research.

New England Journal of Medicine (NEGM)

Current research articles, clinical findings, review articles, perspective/editorials, on a variety of topics in all areas of medicine, such as clinical medicine, internal medicine, general medicine, primary care, family medicine and general practice.

Sage Health Sciences

Full-text articles from 26 journals for topics such as autism, aging, child psychology, clinical psychiatry, health care, nursing, and public health.

Sage Psychology

Full-text articles from 34 peer-reviewed journals, for topics such as family studies, language acquisition, learning disabilities, neuropsychology, and personality.

Science Direct (Elsevier)

Articles from over 900 journals in science, technology, and medicine. To browse a few dozen neuroscience journals in Science Direct proceed as follows:

In the “Browse” box, click on “Browse Journals/Books by Subject”;
Under “Life Sciences” click on “Neuroscience”;
Journal titles preceeded by a green text icon are full-text.

Internet Resources

In addition, you might consider searching the Internet/World Wide Web to locate valuable information in your field of study published by the federal government or government agencies, professional societies, academic institutions or research centers. Always evaluate the quality of information you identify and retrieve.