Perspectives on Inquiry MTU Library Resources

Nature, Landscape, and the Environment

UN1001, Sections R23, R31, R55 Matthew Seigel

Dave Lepse, Librarian (JRVP Library, Room 202, dlepse@mtu.edu 487-1443)

 

Guide to the Library - http://www.lib.mtu.edu/about/MTU_Library_Guide.pdf

Answers your questions about the basics of using the MTU Library.

 

For Assistance

For individual assistance or instruction from a librarian, visit or phone the Reference/Information Desk (487-2507), e-mail reflib@mtu.edu, or use the Ask a Librarian button on the Librarys web page.

 

Interlibrary Loan (ILL) access to items from other libraries.

Request items using an ILL form available at the Circulation Desk, or online by selecting Interlibrary Loanon the Librarys web page. Some index databases also allow ILL requests through their sites.

 

Locating Books & Periodicals

Books are located on the Third Floor in the Main Collection, shelved by Library of Congress call number.

Periodicals are shelved by Library of Congress call number in these locations:

CURRENT JOURNALS (1^st Floor): Recent issues kept here until bound or reissued in microfilm/fiche.

SERIALS COLLECTION (Garden Level): Bound periodicals.

MICROFORMS AREA (2nd Floor ): Microfilm & Microfiche cabinets located on west side of 2nd floor.

E-Journals: The Library subscribes to an increasing number of journals which provide electronic versions of their publications online. Access them through the Librarys web page.

 

Reference Collection - 2^nd Floor

The Reference Collection is a good place to collect background information on an issue or start your research. The collection is arranged by subject, using the Library of Congress Classification System (LCCS) call numbers. An outline of the system is available at http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/lcco/lcco.html.

 

Suggested reference materials

Encyclopedia of Philosophy B41.E5 REF

Encyclopedia of Applied Ethics BJ63.E458 1998 REF

Beachams Guide to Environmental Issues and Sources GE115.B43 REF

CQ Researcher H35.E2 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

Beachams Guide to International Endangered Species QL82.B435 1998 REF

 

 

JRVP Online Catalog

Contains records of materials owned by the MTU Library.

Two search interfaces, Basic and Keyword allow the user to search for items by author, title, subject, call number, ISBN/ISSN, or keyword(s.) Catalog records include bibliographic and location information for items retrieved in your search. Use the Location, Status, Call Number information to find an item in the Library collections.

 

 

Journal, magazine, and newspaper article databases

 

Database Keyword Search Tips - http://www.lib.mtu.edu/reference/tutorials/databasekeyword.aspx

 

To find citations to recent articles from journals, conference proceedings, and other publications, go to the Librarys web page and select E-Resources & E-Alerts. The resulting screen offers four search options for finding databases or electronic journals: (1) Keyword search of database titles and/or descriptions, (2) E-Resources A-Z to browse an alphabetical list by title (3) Search by Subject Headings, (4) Search by Provider.

 

Here are some recommended databases:

 

Agricola

Covers major agricultural subject, including agricultural engineering and marketing, animal breeding, entomology, environmental pollution, farm management, foods and feeds, pesticides, rural sociology, veterinary medicine, and water resources. Citations consist of journal articles, book chapters, monographs, conference proceedings, serials, technical reports, and other materials on a range of agricultural topics.

 

Biological & Agricultural Index

Provides information on topics from groundwater pollution to genetic engineering and covers the entire range of sciences related to biology and agriculture. Indexes key periodicals in the life sciences and agriculture. Includes current book reviews.

 

Biological Sciences (Cambridge Scientific Abstracts)

Interdisciplinary database that offers abstracts and citations to a wide range of research in biomedicine, biotechnology, zoology and ecology, and some aspects of agriculture and veterinary science.

 

Expanded Academic ASAP

Access to arts and the humanities to social sciences, science and technology scholarly journals, news magazines, and newspapers - many with full text and images.

 

Google Scholar

Web search engine designed specifically to locate scholarly literature, including peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, preprints, abstracts and technical reports across broad areas of research.

 

JSTOR

Contains scanned images of over 200 scholarly journals in a variety of academic disciplines covering African, African-American, Anthropology, Archaeology, Asian Studies, Classics, Ecology, Economics, Education, Finance, History, Latin American, Literature, Mathematics, Middle Eastern, Philosophy, Political Science, Population Studies, Slavic studies, Sociology, and Statistics.

 

LexisNexis Academic

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

 

 

Social Sciences Abstracts

Covers periodicals in anthropology, economics, geography, law and criminology, political science, social work, sociology, and international relations.

 

Web of Science

Web of Science access to ISI Citation Indexes (Science Citation Index Expanded, Social Sciences Citation Index and Arts and Humanities Citation Index), which contains multidisciplinary, high quality research information from the world's leading science, social science and art and humanities journals. Only 3 simultaneous users at any one time are able to use this resource.

 

Wildlife and Ecology Studies Worldwide

World's largest index to literature on wild mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians - over 599,430 bibliographic records, many include abstracts. The databases in this exclusive collection offer a global perspective and together form the ultimate resource on wildlife information.

 

Windows Live Academic

Web search engine designed specifically to locate scholarly literature, including peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, preprints, abstracts and technical reports across broad areas of research.

 

 

Selected public web sites

Bibliography of Ecocriticism

Center for Rural Affairs

EPA: Surf Your Watershed

EpistemeLinks - Philosophy Resources on the Internet

Ethics Updates Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Firstgov.gov (search engine for government documents online)

Great Lakes Science Center

The Land Institute

National Biological Information Infrastructure

The New Agrarian

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (SEP)

USGS (United States Geological Survey)

 

Evaluating Information Sources - Consult these sites provided by other institutions:

Identifying Research Articles: http://gateway.library.uiuc.edu/lsx/tutorial/section3.html

Identifying Refereed Journals: http://gateway.library.uiuc.edu/lsx/tutorial/section3_1.html

Identifying Scientific Journals: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_journal

Evaluating Web Sites: http://www.library.cornell.edu/okuref/research/webeval.html

 

Citation style guides: - summary of citation and style guides either available on the internet or in the library.