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Life & Environmental Sciences

Your first stop for research: a guide to resources for Life & Environmental Sciences

Website checklist

A large amount of information is freely available on the Internet BUT when you are using the Internet for research purposes it is really important to evaluate the reliability of the sites you are using; use the checklist below to help you evaluate the information that you find on the Internet.

When evaluating websites use the following checklist to assess the reliability of the information:

  • Is the site Authoritative? Who is the author and what authority do they possess?
  • Is the site Accurate? Are any claims supported by reliable evidence?
  • Is the site Impartial? Is the information biased?
  • Is the site Current? Is the information up-to-date?
  • Who are the Audience? Who is the site aimed at?
  • Is the site Reliable? Are links from the site working and pointing to other reliable sites?

Google Scholar

Google Scholar is an alternative to Google - it searches academic publications making it suitable for research.

Google Scholar logo

image of a search box

Useful Websites

British Library catalogue 

Library Hub Discover - Search across the catalogues of some of the largest university research libraries in the UK and Ireland plus the British Library and the National Libraries of Scotland and Wales.

NCBI Bookshelf  - The U.S. National Center For Biotechnology Information (NCBI) provides free access to a collection of books and documents in the life sciences and healthcare.

Science Videos - Short videos and brief summaries of new papers and research updates, covering evolution, ecology, biology, chemistry and medicine.

Wellcome Images
 -
 One of the Wellcome Library’s major visual collections.  You can search for both historical and contemporary images.

World Health Organization - Includes health topics, data & statistics, publications and information about WHO's programmes & projects.

Anatomy.tv