Chemistry 311: Chemistry and the environment, Spring 2008

Sources for your research:
	Finding books
	Scholarly vs popular sources
	Newspaper articles
	Journal articles
	Web sources
	Evaluating web sites

Start here, with finding books:

Look for water quality information in an academic reference source. Note the vocabulary and keywords used; they will be essential to continue your research. These reference sources will also direct you to further reading.

*The following are just a few subject headings from our Library Catalog related to the class topics.
Try clicking on some that are related to your topic and see what titles come up:

E98.E2 O75 1999?? What does a call number tell you? Here's a quick guide to the Library of Congress system.

General options for getting books:

Note: InterLibrary Loan takes longer than the Circuit-- start your research and request early!

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Scholarly vs. popular sources

Many professors require that you use scholarly sources for your projects. What are scholarly sources, and how can you find them? Cornell University has a useful web page, Distinguishing scholarly journals from other sources, that you can use to categorize sources.

Here is an at-a-glance guide:

Some databases provide a 'peer-reviewed' or 'scholarly only' limit function that can narrow the results, but will still bring back non-scholarly materials that were published in a scholarly journal (e.g., editorials, letters to the editor, book reviews.) When in doubt, look for a substantial bibliography or ask a librarian.

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Newspaper articles

Newspaper articles can be a good way to see what the media and popular press are saying about your topic. Try adding a location to limit your search (e.g. wastewater AND California) for regional press coverage.

Type in keywords related to your topic in the following newspaper databases:

ProQuest Newspapers

Factiva

Lexis Nexis Academic

Journal articles

Journals articles include the latest research in the field. To find articles, search the research databases. Databases can have BOTH scholarly and non-scholarly articles. Here are some databases for your subject area:

Wiley Interscience
Search 'Earth and Environmental Science' journals. Includes:

• Water Law
• Hydrological Processes

ScienceDirect
Search 'Earth and Planetary Sciences'. Includes:

• Urban Water
• Water Policy
• Water Research

JSTOR
Use the 'Advanced Search' to limit disciplines and article type. Includes the topics: (EXCEPT for the latest five years) core scholarly journals in sociology, history, economics, political science, mathematics, African-American & Asian studies, literature, humanities, music, and biological, health & general science.

Academic Search Premier
Limit your results by clicking 'Scholarly/Peer Reviewed'. A good general database to search.

• Journal of Environment and Development (click on 'Current' or 'Previous Issues')

NOTE: Depending on your topic, other databases might be more relevant. For example, you may need geographic, ethnic or economic sources for your paper. Choose a database by subject.

Web sources

These web sources may assist with your research:

• The Environmental Protection Agency office of water.
• The United States Geological Survey page on water resources.

• The US National Library of Medicine chemical look-up, TOXNET.
• Try typing in Arsenic. In the results, you will see a section "References from Biomedical Literature" with over 21,000 articles listed that reference arsenic. Follow that link and you will see one of the first results is an article about arsenic in drinking water.

In general, .gov and .org sites may provide the most reliable information for this project, but no matter what web site you are on, do not forget to:

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Evaluate your web sources

Look on the web for information may reveal very useful information, but the web is full of so much information that some compare it to trying to drink from a fire hose. Much of the information on the Internet is questionable and not appropriate for a college-level research project, and using the first few results from a Google search does not constitute scholarly research!

It is highly recommended that you formally evaluate any web site before choosing to include the information you find in your research project. How do you know that its information is accurate, legitimate or current? Learn how to evaluate a web site before choosing to include the information you find in your research project.

Need more help?
Don't hesitate to contact me for research help.

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