Access, use, and reproduction of the electronic resources made available through the Grinnell College Libraries are governed by license agreements with publishers which may impose greater restrictions on use than does copyright law. The user is responsible for observing these agreements as well as the copyright laws of the United States (Title 17, United States Code), including the fair use guidelines that protect scholarship and research.
When accessing subscription databases from off-campus, you will be asked to sign in using your campus username and password. If you have any problems accessing library resources from off campus, please contact Rebecca Ciota or Sheryl Bissen.
... a commonsense approach to help you find relevant, quality information--for writing a paper, preparing a presentation, working on a lab experiment, answering a question, etc.
... questions to ask; how appropriate and valuable is the information? A worksheet to go along with the questions.
Source + Motivation = Value
Seek information, not affirmation
Primary and Secondary Literature:
Secondary literature looks like this or this ...
Primary literature looks like this or this ... (note the format--Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, References)
... what is the question(s) you are trying to answer? These secondary sources can help you --
*understand concepts
*answer fact questions
*discover search terms, phrases, and names
*focus a research question
Remember, true research is rarely a straight path.


Contains reference material covering all major scientific disciplines with articles drawn from McGraw-Hill encyclopedias, dictionaries, and yearbooks, as well as videos, curriculum materials, and links to primary source documents.

An easy-to-use online reference tool for starting research. Gather background information on your topic from hundreds of full-text general and subject-specific reference titles, as well as numerous images, audio files, and video clips.
Print Location: Science Library RC455.2.C4 D536 2013

Current edition of the standard handbook of the American Psychiatric Association.

MEDLINEplus -- United States National Library of Medicine; a guide to thousands of prescription and over-the-counter medications, and herbs and supplements.
Print Location: print/online
Read summaries of research in --
Advances in Child Development and Behavior
Advances in Experimental Social Psychology (online)
Advances in Experimental Social Psychology (print)
Advances in the Study of Behavior
Annual Reviews
Search the Library Catalog to find good, readable overviews of topics in books and other publications; look for clues in this information to help you find primary literature.
... these sources can help you find evidence to answer your question or validate/invalidate an answer.

This database offers a comprehensive, up-to-date, and easy-to-use resource for serious academic research. Includes nearly 14,000 indexed periodicals and journals covering the physical sciences, technology, medicine, social sciences, the arts, theology, literature, and other many subjects in a variety of languages. Full-text articles are available in either PDF or HTML formats.
Includes articles, book chapters, and images found useful by past and present Grinnell College students.
Frequent topics:
Arabidopsis | Caenorhabditis elegans
Callosobruchus (beetles) | Climate change
Effects of stress on plants | Escherichia coli
Microbiome | Pathogenic bacteria
Prodigiosin | Saccharomyces/Yeast
Serratia marcescens | Xenopus


Search these five databases at the same time; a good way to start searching for primary literature for almost any topic in Psychology.



1978-present. Online resource that provides full-text information from nearly 4,000 United States and international newspapers, news services, magazines, blogs, transcripts, and more. To get to the international newspapers, use the "World" link under Shortcuts in the left sidebar.

Subjects covered include the nature, use, and teaching of language as well as linguistics, phonetics, speech, communication, sociolinguistics, philosophy of language, hearing and speech physiology, and related topics.
The full text of journals, magazines, newspapers, and books available online through the Grinnell College Libraries.
Includes links to resources available through Grinnell College (from computers on campus).
= Restricted resource
= Images
= Video files
= Audio files
= Scholarly articles
= Quantitative data
= Newspapers
= Highly recommended

Kevin Engel
Science Librarian
Tel: 641-269 4234
Or, request a Library Lab. Kevin will get in touch with you to set up an appointment to meet.