Databases are great for finding articles, eBooks, videos, and more--but not all databases will hold useful sources for this subject of study. While some databases, such as Academic Search Complete, are multidisciplinary and cover a wide variety of topics, some are specialized and focus on one broad area of study, such as Business Source Complete, or a very narrow focus of study, such as AGRICOLA (agriculture). Listed here are a small collection of databases that may be the most useful to you--but keep in mind that it will depend on your topic. If you're looking at an environmental topic that overlaps into an economic topic, for example, Business Source Complete may be a good place to go. However, to focus on the science and ecology aspects, you may want to try these databases:
A source is really just an item from which you get information. Sources can be as standard as a book, article, or webpage, but they can also be personal interviews, games, and objects. For instance, a paleontologist may unearth a prehistoric animal bone and write about it in a scientific paper; that bone would be a source. When studying the environment, sources could be climate statistics from NOAA, pressed leaves from trees or a sample of animals from a pond, or a survey you conduct about energy usage or water consumption. Just about anything could be a source--the trick is knowing what type of source is appropriate for your project or paper and knowing where to go to get the information.
Because sources are so varied, it's not practical to try to cover every type of source here. Often, instructors will direct you to the source type--books, interviews, journal articles, etc.--so usually it's a matter of knowing where to go to get the information. Databases are an easy, online way to look up books, videos, and articles from newspapers, magazines, and journals. Often, databases provide access to full text, and are one of the best ways to find peer-reviewed journal articles. Here are some of the common source types, when to use them, and where to get them.
Books are usually deep dives into a topic, either broad or narrow. Scholarly ones are often very specific and in-depth, so if you need a thorough understanding of a topic, or a lot of background information, books are a good option. Format (print v. eBook) doesn't matter, but the non-scholarly ones (considered "popular") may not be acceptable for a formal research project. Look for books in either online catalogs, eBook databases, or in discovery systems, like our WorldCat Discovery. Because of the publication process involved with books, most are not good for current events.
Want to get primary source material for a current natural disaster like the most recent hurricane or to see how things unfolded during the ecological disaster of the Exxon Valdez oil spill? Newspapers are excellent primary sources and great for tracking current events. The best way to look for newspaper articles are in the newspaper-specific databases.
Magazine articles provide a bit more information into an event or topic than newspapers, but not as much as books. Some articles can be long, some are short, but all are written for a general audience, rather than an academic one--this is why they are called a "popular" source. This makes magazines very accessible since they avoid technical language, but the articles are often broad in scope and may not be as focused as you need. Also, these articles (like newspaper articles) are not written by professionals but rather by journalists who may (or may not) have a background in the area they're reporting on. Magazine articles are good to use for either background information or for informal research projects where popular works are allowed. The best way to look for magazine articles is in the databases; look for databases that may be subject-specific and/or use a multidisciplinary one that covers many different topics. Magazine articles take more time to publish usually than newspaper articles, but not as much time as journal articles.
Journal articles are written by experts, primarily for experts. They are often (though not always) peer-reviewed--a rigorous review process that is designed to keep poorly designed studies and poor research from being published, as a kind of quality control. Because these are papers intended for a scholarly audience, they will have technical language common to that field of study. However, the research found in these are often very focused--not just about climate change or even climate change and hurricanes, but things like how rising ocean temperatures are impacting hurricane strength in the Caribbean Islands territory. While not as in-depth as books may be, journal articles can still be a deeper dive than many other sources