Horticulture

This guide is for people working on horticulture, forestry, or urban agriculture research projects

Library Research Guide

Databases - Where to start

CABI Digital Library
Publication Dates Covered:1920 - present Paid for by K-State Libraries
The most thorough and extensive source in the applied life sciences, incorporating the leading bibliographic databases CAB Abstracts and Global Health. Other databases available are VetMed Resource, CABI Full Text, Distribution Maps Plant Diseases, CAB ebooks Archive (2008-2010), and Animal Health and Production Compendium (AHPC). Each database is available through the above CAB Direct link or an individual link found under the corresponding first letter. Over 13 million records are available in CAB Direct.
Web of Science Core Collection
Publication Dates Covered: Science 1945 - present; Social Sciences 1956 - present; Arts & Humanities 1975 - present; Emerging Sources: 2015 - present Paid for by K-State Libraries
Online version of four Citation Indexes: Science, Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities, and Emerging Sources. Be sure all indexes are selected in the "Editions" pull-down menu above the search boxes. In addition to searching by keyword, subject, author, etc. for articles in over 8,000 journals, one can do a “cited reference” search to see how frequently and where an article has been cited.
Scopus
Publication Dates Covered: 1800s - present Paid for by K-State Libraries
Scopus is a good starting point for finding articles on almost any topic. It contains over 47,000,000 records to scholarly publications, trade publications and conference proceedings. Scopus is an excellent database for cited reference searching. Full-text articles are available by using the Get It button.

Even more horticulture databases
There are several more suggested horticulture databases. They are listed at this link.

Searching Tips: Databases

Searching these resources is different from searching the Internet. K-State Libraries pays to subscribe to the databases; they are not found in an online search. Their content is collected and maintained by various companies and organizations.

Keywords: Before you begin, break your topic into key concepts; think about the terminology/keywords you wish to search for and possible synonyms.
Subject Headings: Look for "Subject Headings," "Subjects," "Keywords" or "Descriptors" to help narrow your search. Different databases may recognize different terms. As you find these tags, construct your search using the language/terminology of that database.
Truncation: Use "truncation" (an asterisk at end of word stem): teen* searches for "teen", "teens", "teenager", "teenagers", etc. by adding all possible endings.
Wildcard: Use "wildcard" (a quotation mark inside a word): wom?n searches for "women" or "woman".
Help: When you're in a database, look for its “Help” section.

Advanced Search: Look for the "Guided Search" or "Advanced Search" options so that you have more search boxes.

AND = both concepts must be present, helps limit the search (Ex. stormwater AND management)
OR = great for synonyms (Ex. "universal design" OR "inclusive design")
NOT = exclude an unrelated term (Ex. "nigel coates" NOT "book review")

Get It: No full text available? Click on the "Get It" button to search for the article in our database subscriptions. If it's not there, it will look for a print copy available on campus or through Interlibrary Loan.