Research Guides: ENSP 400: Capstone in Environmental Science and Policy: Search (Strategies, Databases, Books...)

Search (Strategies, Databases...)

Always think about different ways to say the same thing.
Start with keywords to describe your topic, within results, look at the abstract and subject headings to identify additional keywords to use.

Search Strategies:

Quotes around a phrase
"public health"
"storm water"
"ecosystem services"
"Montgomery County"
"citizenship participation"
"consumer behavior"

* at the end of the word to retrieve all the variations (or the middle for spelling variants)
outdoor* = outdoor or outdoors
garden* = garden or gardens or gardening
environment* = environment or environmental or environmentally
gr*ywater = graywater or greywater

combine word/s using connectors.
OR: either term/s are included (to connect synonyms or like concepts)
BooleanOR

economics or marketing
policy or policies
stormwater or rainwater or "storm water" or "rain water"

AND: all terms must be included (to connect concepts)

BooleanAND

"public health" and communication
gr*ywater* and parks
"community garden*" and regulation*
health and benefit*

Databases are subscription resources that bring together articles and other types of research materials into one place with a sophisticated search engine.

There are many, many databases you can use that provide access to journal articles, book chapters, book reviews, conference proceedings, dissertations, and more related to your environmental policy topics.

Start with the databases listed below. For additional databases, browse by subject category under the following categories: Environmental Sciences and Government & Politics

Homepage Databases Subject Type

Databases from the same vendor/publisher may be searched together to weed out duplicate materials. See the page: Searching Multiple Databases

Examples:
Academic Search Ultimate, GreenFILE, International Political Science Abstracts, Business Source Complete and EconLit may all be searched together (EbscoHost databases).

Web of Science, BIOSIS Citation Index, BIOSIS Previews and Zoological Record may all be searched together.

ScienceDirect
Peer-reviewed, full text database containing electronic book and journal titles covering the fields of science, technology and medicine. In addition to keyword searches, the image search and value added content associated with the publication can be found in the form of audio, video and datasets. Extensive coverage of the physical and biological sciences, significant numbers of journals in the social sciences, and some journals in the humanities. Dates of abstracting and indexing vary. Full text prior to 1995 often going back to vol. 1, iss. 1
Author searches are done on the last name only.
Subject searches are supported, but subjects are not presented within the records.
Truncation is not supported in phrases.
BIOSIS Citation Index, 1926-present
Combines the unique BIOSIS content that is critical to life sciences research with powerful citation indexing only the Web of Science platform can provide. Includes comprehensive and relevant life sciences coverage.
BIOSIS Previews
Provides access to the life sciences literature from more than 5,500 journals, books, conference proceedings, US patents, papers and posters, nomenclature rules, and taxonomic keys. Provides access to the traditional areas of biology, such as botany, zoology and microbiology, as well as related fields such as biomedical, agriculture, pharmacology and ecology. Interdisciplinary fields such as medicine, biochemistry, biophysics, bio-engineering and biotechnology are also included. Time span 1970-present.
Zoological Record, 1864-present
The world's oldest continuing database of animal biology. It is considered the world's leading taxonomic reference, and with coverage back to 1864, has long acted as the world's unofficial register of animal names.
Google Scholar
Google Scholar searches academic publishers, professional societies, pre-print archives, and university institutional repositories.
Greenwire
Comprehensive, daily coverage of environmental and energy politics and policy, includes summaries of important energy and environmental policy coverage from hundreds of print, broadcast and online sources, including editorials. Greenwire's archive of key documents provides direct links to reports, analyses, memos, court cases and over 30,000 Greenwire stories. Includes new video and transcripts. State, national, and international coverage of environmental and energy-related politics, news, policy, and markets. 1996 to the present. Updated daily.
Academic Search Ultimate
Multi-disciplinary database providing information for nearly every area of academic study. Includes an enormous collection of the most valuable peer-reviewed full text journals, as well as additional journals, magazines, newspapers and books. Multidisciplinary subjects including: social sciences, humanities, education, computer sciences, engineering, physics, chemistry, language & linguistics, arts & literature, medicine, ethnic studies. 1965- present.
Business Source Complete
All aspects of business.
EconLit
EconLit is a reliable source of citations and abstracts to economic research in over 400 books, journals, dissertations, and working papers. Provides comprehensive information on accounting, capital markets, econometrics, economic forecasting, government regulations, labor economics, monetary theory, urban economics. 1969 - present.
Tip: Do not attempt to search on authors by truncating the first name. Last, F? will often result in zero hits. Try searching on Last or Last, First ISSNs and ISBNs are not searchable in this database.
Communication & Mass Media Complete
All aspects of communication and mass media.
GreenFile
Collection of scholarly, government and general-interest titles includes content on the environmental effects of individuals, corporations and local/national governments, and what can be done at each level to minimize these effects. Topics covered include global climate change, green building, pollution, sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, recycling, and more.
International Political Science Abstracts
This database produced by the International Political Science Association, provides coverage of articles from the world's leading journals in political science. Only 4 simultaneous users allowed. This database contains over 110,000 records from nearly 900 journals published from 1989 to the present. Approximately 8,000 new records are added to the database every year.
Congressional Publications
Access to the full text of congressional publications. Includes: hearings, legislative histories, committee prints and reports, House and Senate documents, Congressional Record, Serial Set, CRS Reports, bills, public laws, regulations...
Congressional hearings, public issues, legislation, history, and legal research.
PAIS Index
From 1915 - Covers the world's public affairs, public and social policies, international relations, and world politics. Includes the policy oriented literature such as economics, finance, law, education, the military, political science, public administration, international law and relations, the environment, demography, public health and science and technology.
Worldwide Political Science Abstracts
Provides coverage of the international serials literature in political science and its complementary fields, including international relations, law, and public administration / policy. International coverage of political science, international relations, law, and public administration and policy. 1975 to the present.

EbscoHost Databases
Start in one database such as Academic Search Ultimate, click on Choose Databases and add additional databases.

Web of Science Databases

Search all databases together or choose individual databases through the drop down menu.

Select a databases in Web of Science

Web of Science Database List

Use WorldCat (the catalog) to locate books on your topic. Use keywords and then the same search strategies as for databases, only capitalize the connectors.

Libraries HomePage

sample searches:

(rainwater OR "rain water" OR stormwater OR "storm water") AND harvest*

("public health" OR "human health") AND (recreation OR outdoors OR natur* OR environment*)

"ecosystem services" AND (economics OR marketing OR valu*)

Global Environmental Politics by Pamela S. Chasek; David L. Downie; Janet Welsh Brown
Call Number: Online
Although discussions about the global environment are now a daily occurrence--from companies touting energy-saving products to politicians debating how to best address the issue of climate change and other environmental concerns--it remains a topic plagued by misinformation and ideologically skewed arguments.
Routledge Handbook of Global Environmental Politics by Paul G. Harris
Call Number: Online
This handbook provides a comprehensive and authoritative survey of Global Environmental Politics.
Climate Change Politics by Anabela Carvalho (Editor); Tarla Rai Peterson (Editor)
Call Number: STEM QC981.8.C5 C6168 2012
Climate Change Politics offers a critical, yet hopeful examination of political vitality in the politics of climate change and discusses how people use various forms of communication to challenge existing power hierarchies.