Stewart Library - Weber State University


Research Guide: Ecology & Environmental Studies

Finding Books

Using Catalogs:

Use the WSU online catalog to find location and availability of books and other media in Stewart Library. Most of the books on the Internet are located on level two of the library in the General Collection under the call number QC.  Another resource to find books in libraries outside the Stewart Library is Worldcat.  It is a catalog of books, web resources, and other materials from a large number of libraries.  

From Bookstores:

Order books online from Amazon Book and Barnes and Noble. Also use Books in Print sources as needed.

Interlibrary Loan:

If we do not own a particular book or article you need, we will borrow it for you from another library through Interlibrary Loan.


Finding Articles

Article databases provide references, abstracts and sometimes the full article from journals, magazines, books and other published literature.  See Research Tips for information on how to search article databases.

Ecology and Environmental Article Databases Available at WSU:

Biological Abstracts
References and abstracts to research articles from over 6,000 world-wide life sciences publications. Online: 1996-present time   Print: QH .B6153 Reference Area, East Wall - Latest 5 years, earlier years are on the 2nd level. 

Biological and Agricultural Index   
Indexes over 250 English language journals in the life sciences and agriculture. References from July 1983 to the present time.

Environmental Sciences & Pollution Management   
Provides references and abstracts to publications on ecology, pollution, bacteriology, toxicology, risk assessment,  waste management, water resources, policies and regulations.   1982-present  

GPO (Government Printing Office) Monthly Catalog 

Indexes governmental agency publications, including EPA and CDC reports.  1976 - present 

MEDLINE (EbscoHost) 
References and abstracts and some complete journal articles from all fields of medicine and biomedicine. 1966- present 

ToxNet
Several databases sponsored by the National Library of Medicine including toxicology and hazardous substances data, the Toxic Release Inventory (TRI), and Toxline, a database of references to toxicological effects of chemicals.

Wildlife Worldwide  
Index to reports and journal literature on wildlife and fisheries, with a focus on the United States. Publications indexed from 1935 to the present, abstracts are included for publications from Sept. 1996. 

See also Science E-Journals Available at WSU

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Reference Resources

Reference resources include encyclopedias, dictionaries and other materials you use to "refer" to. Use these resources for background information on a topic.

In Library - Selected Reference Resources - Reference Area

  • Concise Oxford Dictionary of Ecology  Ref QH 540.4 .C66 1994
  • Encyclopedia of Biodiversity  Ref  QH 541.15 .B56 E53
  • Encyclopedia of Ecology and Environmental Management  Ref GE 300 .E53 1998
  • Encyclopedia of Endangered Species  Ref QH 75 .A1 E53 1994
  • Encyclopedia of Environmental Biology  Ref  QH 540.4 .E52 1995
  • General and Applied Toxicology  Ref RA 1211 .G42 2000
  • Official WWF Guide to Extinct Species of Modern Times  Ref QH 75 .W675 1997
  • Wiley Encyclopedia of Environmental Pollution and Cleanup   Ref TD 173 .W55 1999

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Web Resources

Chemical Scorecard

Created by the Environmental Defense Fund.  Provides pollution statistics from such sources as the EPA's Toxic Release Inventory. Can search by zip code for polluters and types of pollution.

 
Conservation Databases - World Conservation Monitoring Centre

Databases by country for threatened animals and plants; protected areas of the world, forest and marine statistics.

EarthTrends: The Environmental Information Portal
Covers all aspects of environmental concerns and development.  Each topic includes searchable databases, data tables, country profiles and maps. World Research Institute (WRI)

Eco-Regions of the United States

Publication from the U.S. Forest Service by Robert G. Bailey

 
Endangered Species Information

Data on endangered species from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

 

Environment Issues and Resources - International Information Program
Includes government documents, speeches by government officials, and environmental science background information.  From the U.S. Information Agency (USIA)

Environmental Journals on the Internet
Links to full text, table of contents and free e-journals

 
EPA - U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Gateway to EPA environment information.


EPA and Bird Conservation

Resources include "Bird Conservation Initiatives," EPA programs and "What You Can Do"


EPA Global Warming Site

A good starting place for information on climate, emissions, impact and actions.

 
National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH) 

Fact sheets, information about diseases can be found from this page. From the CDC (Centers for Disease Control).

 
National Library for the Environment

Provides objective, scientifically sound information on the environment including reports from the Congressional Research Service.


NatureServe

Distribution and conservation status of plants, animals and ecological communities in the U.S. and Canada.  Created by the Association of Biodiversity Information.

PAN Pesticides Database

Most comprehensive online collection of pesticide data in the world, providing detailed information (at no cost to the user) for about 5,400 pesticide active ingredients, breakdown products, and related chemicals.  From the Pesticides Action Network.

The Virtual Library of Ecology and Biodiversity
Good starting point for biodiversity and ecology internet sites.

Research Tips

  • Clearly identify your information need
  • Identify key words and search terms to match your topic
  • Develop search statements using advanced search techniques
    • Boolean logic, adjacency searching and truncation
  • Use the Stewart Library catalog to find books
  • Use the Science and Technology article databases to find journal articles
  • Go back to the online catalog to see if the journals are in Stewart Library and where they are located
  • Use Interlibrary loan to get materials that are not in Stewart LibraryUse search engines to find Web information
  • Carefully evaluate the information you find for usefulness and quality
  • Revise your search terms and strategy to expand or narrow your results, be creative, look in other areas
  • Once you have found information from an Internet site you can Email the documents to yourself, 
    print or save them to a floppy disk  
  • Use appropriate style to document and cite research
  • Ask for Assistance at Reference,via phone, or email

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Updated February 18, 2005 . Please send comments to Max Greenland Web Administrator.
tephem Weber State University, Stewart Library. Copyright © 2008 All Rights Reserved.