With so much information out there on the Internet & elsewhere, how do you know what's reliable & credible? Check out the CRAAP Test to learn more about Credibility, Relevance,Authority, Accuracy, and Purpose!
Since you will be required to locate some scholarly articles, how can you tell if a source is scholarly? Check out our handout that explains the differences between scholarly & popular sources.
Below is a sample of environmental/ecological web resources:
The US government (as well as state & local agencies) cover a wide variety of environmental resources (including research reports, data & statistics, and more) and the vast majority of this information is now available online. However, it can be sometimes difficult to wade through all of the information available on Google.
As you are searching on Google, try this search tip:
Quick Search is a research tool that allows you to search multiple databases and the UNLV Library catalog in a single source
Quick Search is multidisciplinary, and is a great place to start your research in scholarly journal articles, magazine articles, newspaper articles, books, government publications, and more.
When you search on Quick Search, below are a few tips:
Need more help with QuickSearch? Check out the new QuickSearch Tutorial!
For books (as well as DVDs, govt. publications, etc.), check out our Library Catalog!
http://webpac.library.unlv.edu/
Let's say you wanted to investigate Nevada wildlife in our book catalog.
In the keyword box, type: Nevada and wildlife
Here's an example: Nevada's changing wildlife habitat : an ecological history / George E. Gruell with Sherman Swanson
Call Number: QH105.N3 G78 2012 (5th floor, Lied Library)
In addition to using QuickSearch to find articles, the library has many general & subject specific databases. Below are some great databases to get you started on your library assignment--including newspapers, magazine, and academic/scholarly journal articles going back several decades through the present!
Use the following format for citing journal articles in your bibliography:
Author(s). Date. Title of article. Title of journal volume (issue): pages.
Example:
Schoener, T.W. 2011. The newest synthesis: Understanding the interplay of evolutionary and ecological dynamics. Science 331: 426-429.
For information on the citation format for other resources (books, webpages, etc.) using CBE style (also called CSE) and N-Y (Name-Year) documentation, visit this website: http://ia.juniata.edu/citation/cse/