Accessing peer-reviewed journal articles
For students, it is very important to be able to access peer-reviewed journal articles in order to write papers. You may be able to get free access to some articles using Google Scholar, but many others will be often stuck behind paywalls. Thankfully, educational institutions have agreements with many different journal databases that give you access to them for free! To access those at York University, first visit the library website. Then click on ‘Research Guides’ under the omni search bar. Next, select the subject area of the information (e.g. Science & Mathematics) you are looking to gather and then the sub-section of the subject area (e.g. Biology or Ecology). This will direct you to a page where you can click on journal articles, which will lead to a list of journal databases such as Web of Science, Biological Abstracts, or Scopus. Once you click on a database, all you need to do is sign in using York username and password and
Accessing reliable news
In addition to accessing peer-reviewed journal articles, it is important to be able to access current, reliable news! One of the best locations for reliable news is PressReader, a company with a subscription service that provides access to over 5000 premium newspapers (e.g. Toronto Star, The Guardian and The New York Times) and magazines from over 120 countries in the world, all in one place.
Thankfully, it is possible to get free, legal access to the paid content of PressReader with only a library card! There are two ways to access PressReader using your library card. The first involves visiting https://www.pressreader.com/, clicking sign in in the top right, and then clicking on the “Library or Group” option. From there you can search for your local library and then sign in using your library card number and pin. Secondly, if your library is not listed under this option, you should be able to access PressReader through your library’s own website. For example, you can sign into PressReader using your library card number and pin on the Toronto Public Library’s site. If you don’t have a library card, don’t worry – it is usually free and easy to obtain from your local library! For example, as long as you live, work or go to school in the Toronto region you can get a free library card from any library branch in the City of Toronto.
Applied Plant Ecology Winter 2020 
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