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| Peter Fritzler |
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EVS 495: Seminar in Environmental Studies
Objective: To introduce you to the various methods and resources for obtaining information on environmental problems and management issues. Specifically, this guide will address methods for beginning your research, finding journal articles, and other sources of information.Contents of this Guide |
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| Encyclopedias and Overview Literature | Statistics |
| Finding Journal Articles | Government Information |
| Contaminants | Citing |
I. Encyclopedias and Overview Literature (back to top)
The following list of books provides topical overviews, definitions, bibliographies, and other related information on a variety of subjects related to environmental issues. The library maintains many more sources than those listed here, so it is important to search the library's catalog and/or browse the shelves around these titles to locate other relevant materials.
Selected Books (available in library's Reference Collection - located to the right of the library's entrance).
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Conservation and Environmentalism: an Encyclopedia - contains over 500 individual entries, with coverage of regulatory aspects of many environmental issues, including government agencies, legislation, and case law; entries are grouped under three main areas: ecology, pollution, and sustainability. Call Number: GE10.C68 1995
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Encyclopedia of Ecology and Environmental Management - Call Number: GE300.E53 1998
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Encyclopedia of Environmental Biology - entries include a glossary, cross-references, and bibliography. Call Number: QH540.4.E52 1995
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Encyclopedia of Environmental Issues - (3 volumes) - includes 475 alphabetically arranged articles by experts covering topics including air pollution, national parks, environmental legislation, oil spills, solar power, sick-building syndrome, smog, and urban planning. Also includes several useful appendices: timeline of environmental legislation, directory of environmental organizations, directory of U.S. national parks, and an extensive bibliography of sources. Call Number: GE10.E52 2000
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Encyclopedia of Environmental Science - provides a basic overview and detailed information on environmental topics including the atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, and geosphere. Call Number: GE10.E53 1999
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Enyclopedia of Environmental Analysis and Remediation - (8 volumes) - excellent detailed source with an emphasis on sampling, analysis, and remediation. Topics include pollution sources, transport, regulation, and health effects. Call Number: GE10.E49 1998
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International Encyclopedia of Environmental Politics - includes over 500 alphabetically-arrange entries covering environmental politics from all over the world. Many entries include recommendations for further reading. Also contains an index and list of entries arranged by major themes. For example, the entry on the Clean Air Act (1970) describes the history of the legislation, amendments, impacts and problems arising from enforcement, and references to additional readings on the law. Call Number: GE170.I55 2002
II. Finding Scientific and Scholarly Journal Articles (back to top)
As you begin researching a topic, you may not be aware of any published material on your subject. And with multiple systems for accessing information, knowing where to begin can be a difficult and overwhelming task; particularly if one is not familiar with that specific area of study. However, knowing what sources are available for finding this information, and how to search through these sources is a critical function of a well-trained scientist/researcher.
To help you begin learning about core bibliographic databases in the field of environmental studies a list of these resources is provided below. These should also help you find scientific/scholarly journal articles related to your papers for this class. Please note that each database has a limited scope, so depending on your topic it may be necessary to search one or more of these databases.
| Beginning the process: |
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Key Databases (i.e. indexes) for Finding Articles
Note: These databases are stand alone resources and primarily citation-based; i.e. they will not generally contain the full-text of the articles listed. You will need to search the library's catalog to determine if the library subscribes to the journal referencing your article. By searching the library's catalog you will be able to determine if the library has access to your article.
If you find that the library does not subscribe to the journal referencing your article or is missing the journal issue that contains your article, use the library's Interlibrary Loan service and the library will obtain it for you from another university. This is a FREE service! All you need to do is give us the citation and we'll do the rest. All you need to do is create an account so that you can submit the information to us and so we know who to send the article to when it arrives. This service also applies to books.
Don't wait until the last minute to do your research. Interlibrary Loan requests can take anywhere from 3 days to 3 weeks to fill so make sure you give yourself enough time to obtain the best information possible for your paper!
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Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries Abstracts (ASFA) - premier subscription-based bibliographic database for citations and abstracts to the world's literature on science, technology, and management of marine, freshwater and brackish water environments and organisms. Please see the ASFA Fact Sheet and Guide for more information on using this database.
- Biological Abstracts - both the electronic (1969-present) and print editions (1926-1996) are available through Randall Library. Biological Abstracts (BA) is the most comprehensive index for worldwide journal literature in the life sciences and is one of the most important index to biologists. Please see the BA Fact Sheet and Guide for more information on using this database.
- Environmental Sciences and Pollution Management - multidisciplinary database that covers all areas of air, land, water, and noise pollution as well as basic science areas of bacteriology, ecology, toxicology, environmental engineering, environmental biotechnology, waste management, and water resources. Also includes abstracts of environmental impact statements (1985 - present) issued by the US government. Each entry includes a description of the project, sections on positive impact and negative consequences, and legal mandates.
- GEOBASE - multidisciplinary database indexing geography and geology, including cartography, hydrology, climatology, meteorology, energy, paleontology, ecology, environment, petrology, geochemistry, photogrammetry, geomorphology, sedimentology, geophysics and volcanology from 1980 to the present. The database contains over 600K references with abstracts from journals, books, monographs, conference proceedings, and reports.
- GeoRef - established by the American Geological Institute in 1966, provides access to the geoscience literature of the world. GeoRef is the most comprehensive database in the geosciences and covers the geology of North America from 1785 to the present and the geology of the rest of the world from 1933 to the present. The database contains over 2.6 million references to geoscience journal articles, books, maps, conference papers, reports and dissertations/theses along with references to all publications of the US Geological Survey.
- Lexis-Nexis - provides legislative tracking services and legislative histories for all Congressional publications back to 1970, as well as most Congressional committee reports and testimony back to 1988. Also includes the full-text of the Code of Federal Regulations, and Congressional Record.
- Oceanic Abstracts - focuses exclusively on worldwide technical literature pertaining to the marine and brackish-water environment, and has long been recognized as a leading source of information on topics relating to oceans. Coverage includes marine biology and physical oceanography, fisheries, aquaculture, non-living resources, meteorology and geology, plus environmental, technological, and legislative topics. Oceanic Abstracts is totally comprehensive in its coverage of living and non-living resources, meteorology and geology, plus environmental, technological, and legislative topics. Documents indexed include journal articles, monographs, technical reports, theses, letters, meeting abstracts, papers and reports. Please see the Oceanic Abstracts Fact Sheet for more information on using this database.
- PAIS International - indexes and abstracts journals and other series as well as books, government reports, conference proceedings on public affairs and policy from 1972+. Subjects include conservation, marine policy, coastal zone development, etc.
- PubMed - a free resource (1950s-present) developed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM), PubMed is the most comprehensive biomedical research database. It provides access to 12 million citations and additional life science journals published in the US and 70 foreign countries. PubMed includes links to many sites providing full text articles and other related resources. Please see the PubMed Fact Sheet and Guide for more information on using this database.
- TOXLINE - an extensive index covering the literature related to the toxicological, pharmacological, biochemical and physiological effects of drugs and other chemicals. Provides bibliographic references to journal articles, monographs, technical reports, theses, letters, meeting abstracts, papers and reports.
- WorldCat - a combined catalog of thousands of libraries, including Randall Library. Search WorldCat if you want to search the largest universe of book and other cataloged items.
- Zoological Record - the premier resource comprehensively indexing literature in zoology, ZooRecord indexes every aspect of zoology including biochemistry, behavior, ecology, evolution, genetics, etc. ZooRecord indexes over 4,500 international serials, and includes approximately 1,500 non-serial publications (i.e. professional journals, magazines, newsletters, monographs, books, reviews, and conference proceedings). ZooRecord is published by BIOSIS and the Zoological Society of London. Please see the Zoological Record Fact Sheet for more information on using this database.