Finding Information in Environmental Studies

“One of the effects of living with electric information is that we live habitually in a state of information overload. There's always more than you can cope with.”

– Marshall McLuhan, 1967

• Introduction to UC Berkeley’s libraries

• Finding information on environmental issues - Searching the web - Finding books: - Journal and newspaper article databases:

Access World News, Academic Search Complete, ESPM

• Managing your references:

• Hands-on Exercise

Topics we’ll cover:

Water crisis in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta

Hot Environmental Topic::

What are some relevant issues?

Delta water…

Many aspects to consider…

Who are the stakeholders ?

Conservation issues

History of water management in

California

Urban planning and demand for water

Drought ,

climate change ,

water supply

Health of rivers

and estuaries

How do you find relevant information?

Web searches Books and reports Newspapers (current and historical)

Scholarly journal articles

Delta water crisis:

Magazine articles

Searching the Web

Can be a good place to start:– Contains information that can’t be found elsewhere

– Good for current and local information

– Wide range of available resources

But:– The library pays for content you won’t find through Google

– Careful evaluation is needed

– Lots of random stuff to sift through!

How do you find relevant information?

Web searches Books and reports

Delta water management:

UCB Library Collections

Bioscience and Natural Resources Library: Biology, ecology, environmental conservation,

forestry, nutrition, agriculture, crop biotechnology. www.lib.berkeley.edu/BIOS

Doe and Moffitt Libraries:Social sciences, humanities and general science.

Moffitt Library focuses on helping undergraduates with their research.

www.lib.berkeley.edu/doemoff

Finding Books

• To find printed books: use a library catalog– OskiCat (UCB libraries only; renew your items and find course

reserves): oskicat.berkeley.edu– NextGeneration Melvyl Pilot (all UCs, plus libraries worldwide):

melvyl.cdlib.org

• To find electronic books: use a library catalog, OR search ebook sites directly– OskiCat: oskicat.berkeley.edu, limit search to “Available Online”– Ebrary: site.ebrary.com/lib/berkeley/

• Full text of about 40K books, restricted to UCB users– Google Books: books.google.com

• “Snippets” and “previews” of millions of in-copyright books; full text of public-domain books (mostly pre-1923)

http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/find/types/books.html#ebooks

What do library catalogs NOT do?

In general, they do NOT index the individual articles within journals, magazines and newspapers!

“Old” Melvyl and OskiCat do not contain information about articles.

But things are changing…in new Next-Generation Melvyl, you can find some articles:melvyl.cdlib.org

How do you find relevant information?

Web searches Books and reports Newspapers (current and historical)

Scholarly journal articles

Delta water management:

Magazine articles

Journals and Magazines: Scholarly vs. Popular

Journals: Scholarly/Peer Reviewed

Magazines:

PopularIntended audience: scholars, researchers, professionals

Written by: scientists, scholars, researchers.

Content: peer-reviewed original research, including bibliographies

Articles often written in a specific format incorporating methodology, results, conclusions and footnoting.

advertising: usually minimal

Intended audience: general public

Content: general information and entertainment

Written by: staff writers, journalists, no peer review

Advertising: heavy; geared towards consumers

Peer Review

• Reviewed by experts prior to publication:– Methodology?– Originality?– Clarity?– Significance?

• Previously published literature considered?

• Not a substitute for the “test of time”

Access to online journals

• UC Berkeley pays fees for access to thousands of peer-reviewed journals online

• Anyone can access these from on-campus computers

• Students, faculty, and staff can access from off-campus computers, via the proxy server

What’s an Article Database?

• Article databases index the contents of journals, magazines and newspapers

• Some contain the full text of the articles, others give you only a brief description

• Different databases for different subject areas

• Examples– Access World News– Academic Search Complete– Environmental Science and Pollution Management

• List of all UCB article databases: http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/find/types/articles.html

• Import citations from a variety of sources

• Create your own database of citations

• Format bibliographies in a variety of styles

• Web-based; access your references from any computer

• Free for UCB students, faculty & staff

www.refworks.com

RefWorks:Manage Your References Easily

• Bioscience Library Reference Desk:Monday-Thursday: 10am-6pmFriday: 10am-5pm

• Moffitt Library Reference Desk: Monday-Thursday: 10am-7pmFriday: 10am-5pm

• IM a librarian: lib.berkeley.edu, click on “Questions? Ask us!”

• E-mail us: bios@library.berkeley.edu

Where to go for help…

1. Using the resources linked from your ESPM 12 library guide, search for information relating to the water crisis in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. For example, you might research:

How California’s water management has changed over time How climate change is a factor in flooding or drought How environmental writers (such as John Muir) addressed water-

related issues

What issue are you most concerned about?

Hands-On Exercise

2. Find three relevant references for the topic you have chosen:• one scholarly journal article (print or online), • one book or government report (print or online)• and one reference of any other type.

3. Copy and paste your three references (author, title, publication date, etc.) into one email and send it to biosclas@lists.berkeley.edu.

www.lib.berkeley.edu/BIOS/espm_12.html