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Environmental Issues: ENGL & ESOL: Search Strategy

Search Strategy

SEARCH PREPARATION

Develop a specific research topic or question. (Not too broad, not too specific.)

For example:

How and why are African American communities impacted by environmental racism?

Divide the topic into two or three concepts:

environmental racism
African Americans


DATABASE SEARCHING

OneSearch (To log into our databases off-campus you'll need to use your email or Canvas login.)

Search most of Skyline Library's article databases and book catalog to find a wide range of articles from academic journals, popular magazines, newspapers and reference sources, e-books & other documents, plus print books available in the library.

Click on the link above to open a new database window

To search for more than one "concept", click on Advanced Search below the Search box.

In each search box, type the search word(s) for a separate concept.
-  Type an OR between synonymous words for the same concept.
-  Use an * to search for multiple words from the same root, e.g. legislat* will find articles with the words: legislate, legislation, legislator or legislated
-  Use quote marks (“ ”) around search phrases (multiple words that should be searched together), e.g. “racial discrimination”

Example:

"environmental racism" OR "environmental justice" OR   "environmental health" OR "environmental protection" 
"African American*" OR Black*

There will usually be many different ways to try to search for a topic and you should try different search combinations to see which gets the best results.  You will often find different good quality sources from different searches. Here is another search example for the same topic:

racis* OR "race discrimination"
pollut* OR "hazardous waste"
OR "environmental health" OR "environmental protection" OR toxic*
"African American*" OR Black*

  • Click the “Search” button to begin a search
  • When the results page is displayed, click on an article title to see detailed information and a summary of the article.
  • To see the full-text of an article, click on PDF Full Text or HTML Full Text at the left of the detailed information page
  • To print or e-mail an article, click on the print or e-mail buttons on the right task bar. A source citation will also be sent when you email a document. You can select the citation format (MLA, APA, Chicago) from the menu in the email box.

Library Subjects

Environmental issues topics are found throughout the Library. Use the subjects/call numbers below to browse the shelves for something that interests you:

 Environmental Sciences:

GE146 Environmental disasters

GE149 Global environmental change

GE195-199 Environmentalism

GE300-350 Environmental management

Economic History and Conditions: 

HC79 Environmental economics

HM856-861 Social ecology

HV6401-6405 Offenses against the environment

JA75.8 Green Movement


Biology, Geology, Health

QE38 Environmental geology

QH1-199.5 Natural history, including conservation biology

QH540-549.5 Ecology

RA565-600 Environmental health


Law, Technology:

K3581-3598 Environmental law

TA170-171 Environmental engineering

TD169-171 Environmental protection

TD172-193 Environmental pollution