Near the starting time of the Applied Plant Ecology course, there was a lecture about electronic libraries and how to find resources online. One major thing I took from that lecture was York Universities E-Resources & Databases. This is an online database accessible by students and researchers. I never understood the full potential of this database until after hearing about it during lectures, and exploring it afterwards. I realized almost any article I was looking for, could be found on this database. The database also includes separate guides like “Quick Guide to the Bronfman Databases” and “Business Resources A-Z” which can specify your search results and let you which articles are peer-reviewed. As well as date, language and field options that can help narrow your search for the best results.
As a science student at YorkU, we are expected to read a lot of research articles related to our course. This year I’ve had to read at least one or two research article every week. This online database has improved my study condition tremendously. I can easily search for my article, download a PDF version of it, and read it on the go on my phone. Without this database in place, I suspect we would be expected to read these articles on printed paper. This switch to an online database versus the printed paper option not only saves paper and trees; but also, is easily accessible by students than paper copies. I’ve also found some of my course textbooks and other required resources using this search database, so I have nothing but positive reviews for this whole system.
Applied Plant Ecology Winter 2020 