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