ENVS 520: Senior Seminar in the Environment: Introduction

This guide will provide recommended library materials for your Environmental Sciences research, and it will show you how to find more sources. Whether you're looking for books in the library, journals on the shelves, articles online, or online streaming multimedia, this guide helps you get started.

Thinking about Environmental Sciences

Writing about Environmental Science consists of several components.  Environmental science has many facets, including scientific considerations, public policy and political battles, psychology (such as e.g. the trauma of long-term evacuations due to disasters), international relations & diplomacy,  economic implications, sustainable development, and even the built environment.

Professionals doing environmental work are found in many fields, just as environmental aspects touch many areas of life. The broad range of topics includes: medicine, toxicology, food supply safety and agriculture, public health, economics and sustainable development, public policy,  conflict resolution (across national borders and interest groups), sociology, history, nature and habitat conservation, and more.

This guide shows how to use the library’s resources, find the  the written works containing the needed information, regardless of the focus for the environmental aspect.
 
Distilling the idea down to a concise research question:

1. Most important: Step Number One: What is your research topic? What is it about?
2. Searching for articles, books, videos, and other library materials.
3. Organize your information to cover all aspects of your research paper.
4. Tying it all together: using the research resources and writing the paper.