Keywords
Always think about different ways to say the same thing. Start with keywords to describe your topic. Then, within results, look at the abstract and subject headings to identify additional keywords to use.
Using Quotation Marks
Place phrases in quotes so the whole phrase will be searched together and not the words individually
| place phrases in quotes |
| "climate change" |
| "chesapeake bay" |
| "invasive species" |
| "fossil fuels" |
| "high speed rail" |
Using *
When you put an asterisk at the end of a search term it searches for words with any possible ending.
| use * for truncation |
| environment* = environment or environments or environmental |
| "public land*" = public land or public lands |
| python* = python or pythons |
| regulation* = regulation or regulations |
Using OR
When you use OR between search terms, the database will search for any of them. This is useful if there might be multiple ways to refer to your topic.
| use - or - for synonyms |
| "wind energy" or "wind power" |
| "mountaintop mining" or "mountaintop removal" |
| conservation or agriculture |
| "natural disaster*" or hurricane* or wildfire* |
| "nuclear energy" or "nuclear power" |
Using AND
When you use AND between search terms, the database will only show you search results that contain those search terms.
"wind power" or "wind energy"
and
"public land*"
---------
"coal ash"
and
regulation
----------
"nuclear power" or "nuclear energy"
and
waste
and
disposal or treatment
--------------
Additional concepts / key words:
law and legislation
government policy
regulation
international cooperation
environmental aspects
rural
states
countries
Get into one database and add additional databases by clicking on - choose database.
So, if you start with Academic Search Complete, you can add Greenfile, Business Source Complete, EconLit, ...
Make note of the additional resources (book, book chapter, journal article) you identify in the bibliographies, references, notes, and footnotes of the sources you are using. This is one way to further your research.
Example:
Let's say you found this article:
Gregory S. Munro, The Public Trust Doctrine and the Montana Constitution as Legal Bases for Climate Change Litigation in Montana, 73 Mont. L. Rev. 123 (2012)
This article includes an interesting book and another article in its citations. You can then go and look up these sources to read them yourself, and possibly cite them in your assignment!
Finding the References
If the article is really great for your research you can also look and see if the article has been cited by anyone else since it was published.
This is the original article:
Gregory S. Munro, The Public Trust Doctrine and the Montana Constitution as Legal Bases for Climate Change Litigation in Montana, 73 Mont. L. Rev. 123 (2012)
There are several ways to see who has cited the article, (HeinOnline provides some citing information) but one of the best and easiest ways is to use Google Scholar
