Research Guides: Biological Sciences *: Reference & Background Information

Reference Sources

Reference sources can be used to location general information about a topic. Examples of reference sources include encyclopedias, dictionaries, and bibliographies, for example.

AccessEngineering This link opens in a new window
Access Engineering is an engineering reference tool that provides access to authoritative and regularly updated engineering reference information.
AccessEngineering provides integrated access to thousands of pages of trusted content from such renowned resources as Perry's Handbook for Chemical Engineers and Marks' Standard Handbook for Mechanical Engineers across desktop and mobile platforms. Users can access more than 530 books, 760 instructional videos, 3800 interactive graphs, and an Excel calculator tool to streamline calculations.
AccessScience This link opens in a new window
AccessScience contains various resources in science and technology: the unabridged McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology, the McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms, and much more.
AccessScience has over 7100 articles; 115,000 dictionary terms; hundreds of research updates in all areas of sci/tech, including medicine; over 2000 biographies of leading scientists; weekly updates on breakthroughs and discoveries; and links to Web sites for further research.
Credo Reference This link opens in a new window
Credo Reference is a digital reference library that places a world of factual information at your fingertips. Containing a selection from 645 high-quality reference books from the world's leading publishers, Credo Reference is the ideal place to start any research.
Gale eBooks This link opens in a new window
Multidisciplinary collection of encyclopedias and reference sources within the Gale eBooks platform
GREENR (Global Reference on the Environment, Energy, and Natural Resources) This link opens in a new window
The Global Reference on the Environment, Energy, and Natural Resources focuses on the physical, social, and economic aspects of environmental issues. Topic, organization, and country portals form research centers around issues covering energy systems, health care, agriculture, climate change, population, and economic development. Portals include authoritative analysis, academic journals, news, case studies, legislation, conference proceedings, primary source documents, statistics, and multimedia.
Merck Index Online This link opens in a new window
The Merck Index is a fully-searchable database with over 11,500 monographs on chemicals, drugs, and biologicals.
The new online edition also includes historical records not available in the print edition. In addition, the Merck Index includes a reference of over 500 named organic reactions and reference tables that include common abbreviations, chemical structures, constants, and conversions.
Oxford Reference Online This link opens in a new window
The Core Collection brings together 100 language and subject dictionaries and reference works - containing well over 60,000 pages - into a single cross-searchable resource.
Access to the database is limited to 5 users.
SpringerLINK This link opens in a new window
The SpringerLink database is the online central access point for Springer resources in all disciplines including arts, humanities, and social sciences, with particular strength in Science-Technology-Medicine.
USC has access to hundreds of Springer e-journals and 6,500 new e-books / e-reference works every year (over 38,000 so far). USC owns all Springer e-books / e-reference works from 2005 up to present.
Wiley Online Library This link opens in a new window
A multidisciplinary collection of online resources covering life, health and physical sciences, social sciences, and the humanities. Select "Medicine" from the Browse Column, then the resource of interest from the next menu.