UN 1001: Perspectives on Inquiry, Library Resources

Perspectives on Nature, landscape and Environment:

Instructor: Matthew B. Seigel, Email, mbseigel@mtu.edu

Librarian: Joan Goodbody: email; goodbody@mtu.edu: phone; 487-2698

 

MTU Library Catalog:

Use the catalog to find items that the library owns: Searchable by author, title, subject or keywords. Also after using an index to find a paper/article that you want, youll need to use this catalog to determine whether we have the journal that the article appeared in. Articles from journals we do not have or books we do not have can be ordered through Interlibrary Loan (ILL). Many of the databases now have a direct ILL link.

 

Reference resources:

The reference collection is a good place to begin exploring an unfamiliar subject. The encyclopedias and dictionaries found here can give you definitions of terms and background information on your subject. Along with help identifying specific issues within your broad subject area to explore in more detail.

CQ researcher (issues): H35 .E2. REF: This is a multi volume (by year) publication that is put out to help the members of congress and their staff understand public issues. Index is in the front of the newest notebook. The Index is also available at: http://library.cqpress.com/researcher_index.pdf

Beachams guide to environmental issues and sources GE115.B43 REF

Dictionary of environmental legal terms KF3775.A68L44 REF

Environmental Law: Water Pollution KF3775.A7E58 v. 2 REF

International Protection of the Environment K 3585.4.I5748 REF

 

E-Resources access to electronic indexes/abstracts, online books, e-journals and selected websites. From the E-Resource menu select listings by alphabet, topic or collection (e.g. FirstSearch or InfoTrac.) E-Resources are also searchable by name or keyword(s.) Use the index databases to locate journal articles, newspaper articles, or reviews on your topic. Some indexes or collections of indexes especially useful for research in this course include:

 

Databases:

FirstSearch: This database provides access to over 60 indexes. They include:

Worldcat, a comprehensive database for all types of material cataloged by OCLC member libraries. This does NOT index periodicals at the article level;

Wilson Select Plus, A full text database comprised of articles represented by selected citations from Readers' Guide Abstracts, Social Sciences Abstracts, Humanities Abstracts, General Science Abstracts, Education Abstracts, and Wilson Business Abstracts.

AGRICOLA: Covers all aspects of agriculture, including agricultural engineering, environmental pollution, forestry, soils, and water resources. Citations-some have abstracts--are for journal articles, book chapters, conference proceedings, theses, etc. Another version of this database may be accessed at http://www.nal.usda.gov/ag98/.

Biological & Agricultural Index: Indexes English language periodicals covering the entire range of sciences related to biology and agriculture. Also includes current book reviews.

Applied Science and Technology: This index is also known as ASTA. It leads users to the latest findings in every area of science, engineering and technology. Covers trade and industrial publications, journals issued by professional and technical societies and specialized subject periodicals. Abstracts database records include abstracts and indexing information.

 

Infotrac: A comprehensive multi-index database including:

General Reference Center Gold (issues and philosophers): A general interest database that integrates a variety of sources in one easy-to-use interface. Use General Reference Center Gold to find articles from newspapers, reference books, and periodicals, many with full-text and images.

InfoTrac Custom 150 Full Text Newspapers:A collection of newspapers from around the Country and the World;

Expanded Academic ASAP:Gives access to arts and the humanities to social sciences, science and technology scholarly journals, news magazines, and newspapers - many with full text and images!;

InfoTrac OneFile, A one-stop source for news and periodical articles on a wide range of topics. Millions of full-text articles, many with images. Updated daily;

LexisNexis:

Academicprovides full-text documents from over 5,600 news, business, legal, medical, and reference publications with a variety of flexible search options. 

Congressional provides a comprehensive online resource from Congressional hearings, public issues, legislation, history, and legal research.

 

Cambridge Scientific: CSA is a privately-owned information company that has been

publishing abstracts and indexes to scientific and technical research literature for over 30 years. It is a comprehensive science related multi-index database including:

Ecology abstracts: This database indexes information ranging from habitats to food chains, from erosion to land reclamation,.

Environmental Sciences and Pollution Management: This database deals with environmental science, including toxic hazards of chemical pharmaceuticals and other substances: air, marine and freshwater pollution as well as biochemical applications in water treatment and pollution are also covered.

EIS: Digest of Environmental Impact Statements: This databaseextracts the key issues from complex government-released environmental impact statements, converting massive documents into concise, readable abstracts. Each entry includes a clear description of the project, sections on positive impact and negative consequences, and legal mandates.

Environmental Engineering Abstracts: This database covers the world literature pertaining to technological and engineering aspects of air and water quality, environmental safety, and energy production.

Health and Safety Science Abstracts: This index provides a comprehensive, timely survey of recent work relating to public health, safety, and industrial hygiene.

JSTOR: is a searchable database containing scanned images of back issues of over 100 scholarly journals in a variety of academic disciplines. Titles currently available are from the fields of: African-American Studies, Anthropology, Asian Studies, Ecology, Economics, Education, Finance, History, Literature, Mathematics, Philosophy, Political Science, Population Studies, Sociology and Statistics.

Websites:

Evaluation of websites: http://www.library.cornell.edu/okuref/research/webeval.html - Cornell University Libraries Research Skills -One of the best sites on evaluating information found on the Internet.

Firstgov.gov: www.firstgov.gov. This is the official government site that searches over 87 million sites. Can search for just federal, federal and a specific state, federal and all states, all states, or a specific state. Advanced search gives the most flexibility.

American Memory: http://www.loc.gov/. This is the main page of the Library of Congress. Click on American Memory to get to the search page. American Memory is a gateway to rich primary source materials relating to the history and culture of the United States. The site offers more than 7 million digital items from more than 100 historical collections.

For Assistance

For individual assistance or instruction from a librarian, visit or phone the Reference/Information Desk (487-2507), e-mail instrlib@mtu.edu,