This and other research guides are on the ACC Library web page under
Research Guides & Tutorials: http://library.sunyacc.edu

Adirondack Community College, 640 Bay Road, Queensbury, NY 12804
(518) 743-2260

Books | Reference books | Articles | Web sites

At any point in your research, please consult a reference librarian. Librarians are available whenever the library is open at (518) 743-2200 ext. 2462. Library hours are listed on the ACC Library's home page: http://library.sunyacc.edu.

Finding Books:

To find books or multimedia items, search the ACC book catalog (ACC Library web page > Finding Books > Catalog):

• Reference books, on the library’s main floor, don’t leave the library, so are always available.
• Circulating books, on the upper level of the library, may be checked out for four weeks.
• Videos, DVDs and music CDs may be borrowed by faculty. Students may use equipment near the video/DVD shelves.

Search tip: Start with a keyword search. When you find an interesting book, look for the subject headings in the book's online description. Click on any that refine your search best. Here are some subject headings to consider using:

- Use “and” to combine two subjects, such as: trees and New York.
- Use truncation to find various “wildcard” endings: herb* will retrieve herb, herbs, herbal, etc.
- Make sure to also see the Gardening research guide!    

• Plant identification guides: The ACC Library owns many field guides: eastern U.S. trees, wild flowers, weeds of the Northeast, seeds, ferns, grasses, mushrooms and more. Search for terms such as “wild flowers” (note: it’s two words, not one!) , or a more precise search with truncation, such as “Wild flowers and identif* ”.

   

Reference Books:

Reference books, on the main floor, can help you select a research topic. They also offer quick background information and overviews on subjects.

Many circulating books are also useful for botany topics. Among them are:
- Uncertain peril: genetic engineering and the future of seeds (S 494.5.B563 C86 2008)
- Seeds for the future: the impact of genetically modified crops on the environment (SB 123.57 .T494 2007)
- Genetically modified crops (SB 123.57 .H35 2003)
- Diseases of trees and shrubs (SB 762 .S56 2005)
- It's a long road to a tomato: Tales of an organic farmer ... (S 605.5 .S85 2006)
- Field guide to wild mushrooms of Pennsylvania and the Mid-Atlantic (QK 605.5.P4 R87 2006)
- Armitage’s native plants for North American gardens (SB 439.26.N7 A76 2006)

Gale Virtual Reference Library:

You can search thousands of full-text chapters from more than 250 reference books published by Gale Cengage Learning. The ACC Library owns many of these books in printed format also. The Document Title search will search for your term in the chapter titles, giving you full-text chapters from the reference books. The content is the exactly the same as the original printed books. Find this database with these links: ACC Library Web page > Finding Books > Reference > Gale Virtual Reference Library. (Note: This is a subscription database. ACC students, faculty and staff may log in from off-campus with their campus network user names and passwords.)

Environmental Encyclopedia, Science in Dispute, Tobacco in History and Culture and many more are among the GVRL reference books you may find useful.

Finding Articles:

Journal articles offer current and specific information and research. Search for journal articles by subject through any of the ACC Library's dozens of article databases. Many but not all offer full-text links to articles. (If needed, ask a reference librarian about finding an article though another database, print sources or interlibrary loan if it's not full-text.).

Article databases are subscription-only products. ACC students and faculty may search these from home by following screen directions. To get your ACC student username and password, see Lookup Account and Password on the Student Portal page. For a full list of journals ACC Library receives, see the online Periodicals at ACC list or check the card file at the Circulation Desk.

From the ACC Library Web page, go to Finding Articles. Then, choose either:

• General Databases to find articles on a current, popular or multidisciplinary topic and need a mix of newspapers, magazines and scholarly journals; or
• Subject Databases to find specialized articles on one subject only, such as business, science, literature, nursing, etc.

Among the General Databases are:
● EBSCO's Academic Search Premier: Over 8000 journals; about half are full-text.
● JSTOR: full-text; 117 journals covering the arts, sciences and social sciences.
● New York Times: Current (1980-present) and historical editions (1851-2003).
● WilsonSelectPlus: Completely full-text; 1+ million articles from 1400 journals.
● New York State Newspapers: includes New York Times full-text.
● Opposing Viewpoints, CQ Researcher, more.

Web sites:

Here are some recommended Web sites. Of the billions of Web sites in the world, these are more appropriate for college-level research.

Scott's Botanical Links: http://www.ou.edu/cas/botany-micro/bot-linx
From University of Oklahoma.

Internet Directory for Botany: http://www.botany.net/IDB
Index to botanical info., images, etc.

New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation’s Plants page:
http://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/275.html

American Library Association’s Index to Internet Resources pages
Horticulture: http://www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlpubs/crlnews/backissues2003/may3/horticulture.htm
Botany: http://www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlpubs/crlnews/backissues2000/june2/botany.htm

Public Library of Science
http://www.plos.org/
Online journal with scholarly scientific and medical articles from "nonprofit organization of scientists and physicians committed to making the world's scientific and medical literature a freely available public resource."

Plants-in-Motion: http://plantsinmotion.bio.indiana.edu/plantmotion/starthere.html
Time-lapse movies of plants in motion: phototropism, growth, Venus fly trap, more, from Indiana University professor.

Librarians Internet Index: http://lii.org
Under Science, click on Plants for many well-reviewed sites, selected by Library of California.

Scirus: http://www.scirus.com
A science-only search engine. Use Advanced Search for best results.

For more information:

Consult a reference librarian at any point in your research. You may also want to see other online ACC Library research guides.

For more reference books and links on cultivated plants, see this ACC Library research guide: Gardening Information at the ACC Library.

Updated June 2008/JM