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In Food and Nutrition, basic, background, or reference information can be helpful for understanding your research topic or if you need to cite definitional information. This sort of information can be in books, in library databases, and on the open web.
Ram Search can be used to find background information, in addition to other types of information. You can use the limiters to limit to just books, ebooks, and/or reference/encyclopedic content. Ram Search only includes books available at the Henry Whittemore Library and ebooks in the databases we subscribe to. For locating books outside of Whittemore Library use the Minuteman Library Network or World Cat.
The Minuteman Library Network (MLN) Catalog is a great way to locate physical books and ebooks in the Henry Whittemore LIbrary and neighboring public libraries in the MetroWest. You can request to have books sent to the Whittemore Library using your library card number and password. For more information about how to request materials from the MLN, check out the links below.
Commonwealth Catalog allows you to search across libraries in Massachusetts. You can request to have books you find through the Commonwealth Catalog sent to the Whittemore LIbrary using your library card number and password.
Word Cat searches across libraries worldwide. It is very helpful for materials not available in MLN or through the Commonwealth Catalog.
Just want to browse the shelves? Check the below list for the call number ranges for your biology topic of interest. Remember that we have books in the stacks on the lower levels and books in the reference room on the first floor.
Medicine call number ranges related to food and nutrition
Technology call number ranges related to food and nutrition
Google can be a wonderful resource for finding background information on your topic! The search commands listed below will help you find credible information using Google.
What it does: Searches within a specific site or domain. Useful for locating information from specific government organizations. Also useful for locating materials more generally from .gov or .edu domains.
Examples: site:who.int or site:.gov
Notes: Be careful if searching for site:.edu. Not all websites that end in .edu are universities or other educational institutions, the domain can be used by anyone.
What it does: Searches for specific file types. Useful for looking for reports, white papers, working papers, or factsheets.
Examples: filetype:pdf
Notes: There may be information you are missing if you limit to one filetype!
Example search: Lyme disease site:who.int filetype:pdf
What it retrieves: This search retrieves pdf files published to the web on the WHO website.
Example search: bt corn site:usda.gov
What it retrieves: This search retrieves any information on bt corn on the USDA website.
Google Scholar is a specialized search page where results are limited to scholarly sources - mostly books and articles, though a limiter to find case law instead of articles is available.
If there is free full text available on the internet, links will appear to the right of each search result.
If and when you don't see full text available, copy a result's entire title, put quotation marks around it, and run it as a 'phrase search' in the RamSearch search box. If we have it, it will come up a a result - either full text, or with an interlibrary loan request form already half-filled out for you.)