BIO 105: Environmental Biology

Professor Arriola

	Print Resources
	Electronic Resources
	Internet Resources
	Evaluating and Citing Your Sources
	Accessing Library Resources from Off Campus

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Print Sources

If you don't know a whole lot about your topic, you can use books to get you started. Reference books especially can define terms, give background information or refer you to other helpful resources on your topic. Below are only a few books that might help.

• Use I-Share, the electronic card catalog, to find other books.
• Use general words, not specific phrases, to find the most books.
• Take a look at books in the Opposing Viewpoints and Current Controversies series for information on your topic.
  • Do a Guided Keyword search.
  • Type in the name of the book series.
  • Search for these words as a phrase and search by Series title.

Reference Books

Reference books are great sources to get an introduction to a topic, help define terms or determine where else to look for sources.

• Conservation and Environmentalism: An Encyclopedia. Reference R 363.7003 C755
• Green Encyclopedia. 363.7003 F822g
• Blackwell's Concise Encyclopedia of Environmental Management [electronic resource] ~ access through NetLibrary
• The Facts on File Dictionary of Environmental Science Reference R 628.03 S847F 2001
• The Facts on File Dictionary of Ecology and the Environment Reference R 577.03 F142

Electronic Resources

• CQ Researcher ~ An excellent source for current hot topics. Each individual issue contains historical background, a timeline, current status, and potential future developments. The bibliographies are especially helpful in finding useful sources.
• Academic Search Premiere ~ This is a good place to find scholarly and popular journal articles.
• JSTOR - Excellent for biological and environmental sciences.
• WilsonSelectPlus ~ An all-subject journal article database that covers the sciences.
  
  
• Newspaper Source ~ Selected full text of articles from more than 100 U.S. and international newspapers.
• New York Times ~ Search the full text from 1999 - present; also includes index back to 1990.
• Chicago Tribune ~ Search the full text (excluding advertisements) from 1985-date.
• Lexis Nexis Academic ~ A great place to find newspaper articles from across the country and transcripts from news, radio, and TV programs.

• Why should I evaluate web sites? Can't I just trust everyone's website?

  • Dissing the King ~ a cautionary tale detailing how websites are not always what they seem
  • The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly: Or, Why It's a Good Idea to Evaluate Web Sources
    
    

• What should I look for in a trustworthy web site?

  • Evaluating Web Sites
    
    

• Where can I go for trustworthy sites that have already been evaluated?

  Subject Directories

  • Librarians' Internet Index
    
  • The Scout Report
  • The Best Information on the Net
  • Digital Librarian
  • Internet Public Library
  • BUBL ~ a selection of "Internet resources covering all academic subject areas"
    
    
    

• Can't I just do all of my research on the Internet (I thought everything there was free and full-text)?

  • Despite what some would have you believe, not everything is available for free on the Internet.
  • Don't rely on the web as your only source of information.
  • Choose web sites carefully.
  • Use them to support your articles and books, not to replace them.

Evaluating and Citing Your Sources

How do you know if you can trust your resources? Who wrote them? Are they experts?

• Evaluating Print Resources ~ From the library experts at Cornell University.
• Evaluating Internet Resources ~ Also from Cornell University.
• Popular vs. Scholarly ~ What the heck is the difference?

Give credit where credit is due. Cite your resources properly.

• Citing resources in the APA style.