General Guides to Research And Sources
Sourcebook on the Environment : A Guide to the Literature.
A broad guide to selected aspects of literature on the environment.
Divided in four parts: Part 1 introduces environmental problems, philosophies,
and perspectives, for example, ecosystem models and resource scarcity;
Part 2 provides selected case studies on issues like mining and urbanization;
Part 3 presents crucial elements of the environment like water and water
quality.
Each part consists of evaluative bibliographic essays followed by detailed
bibliographies. Part 4 presents aids to research: a list of selected
periodicals, federal environmental legislation, and selected environmental
organizations.
Ref. Z5861 .S66
Sources of Information in Water Resources: An Annotated Guide to Printed
Materials
Provides brief annotations on over 1100 titles. Some information on
individual states, but the focus is on the United States as a whole. Primarily
cites books from 1960 - 1975.
Ref. Z7935 .G548
Water Pollution : A Guide to Information Sources.
A guide to literature from various sources, including general reference
works, water pollution reference sources and miscellaneous guides to
legislation, grant sources, water agencies, and more. An appendix contains
selected readings recommended for researchers new to the field.
Citations include brief annotations.
TD423 .K54
Water Quality and Availability : A Reference Handbook.
Begins with an introductory background essay on water supplies. Subsequent
chapters cover a chronology of water management, laws and regulations,
organizations, and a selective annotated bibliography of books. Articles,
government documents, selected journal titles and audio-visual resources
are listed briefly.
Ref. TD223 .M53 1992
Wisconsin Water Resources Catalog.
A listing of water resources publications available from the Wisconsin
Department of Natural Resources and other agencies. Arranged by subject,
with annotations. A title list is also provided. Publication contacts are
listed. Many of the important titles noted here can be found in the Lawrence
Library; search LUCIA to verify holdings.
Ref. TD365 q.W5
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Encyclopedias and Dictionaries
The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Ecology.
Presents definitions, with cross-references, of terms from the wide
range of disciplines related to ecology. Very good for quick, brief questions
on the vocabulary of ecology.
Ref. QH540.4 .C66 1994
Encyclopedia of Environmental Biology. 3 vols.
Contains detailed articles that provide a comprehensive overview of the
selected topics. Each entry contains an outline, glossary, cross-references,
and a bibliography. Arranged alphabetically, with a subject index and a
very useful Index of Related Titles in volume 3.
Ref. QH540.4 q.E52 1995
The Encyclopedia of Environmental Studies.
Provides a mix of encyclopedic and dictionary entries on environmental
language from many disciplines, including environmental law. Has
cross-references, a list of further readings, and an index.
Ref. TD9 q.A84 1991
Environment and the Law : A Dictionary.
Examines all aspects of antipollution law. Entries range from a few
paragraphs to several pages in length. Includes an introductory essay,
a bibliography, tables of cases, statutes, and regulations, and an index.
Ref. KF3775.A68 P38 1995
Environmental Encyclopedia.
Contains primarily longer, detailed entries; few terms are defined in
shorter entries. Cross-references are given for all entries, an each of the
longer entries include a list of further readings. Includes biographical
information on major environmentalists. Appendices give a chronology of
environmental events and a summary of environmental legislation. Indexed.
A good starting place for environmental information.
Ref. GE10 q.E58 1994
McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Environmental Science.
Alphabetically arranged articles; most open with a definition of the
subject or terms and close with a bibliography, and provide detailed
information directed at nonspecialists. Provides cross-references and
an index. Another good starting place.
Ref. QH540.4 .M3
The Water Encyclopedia.
Tables for the specialist as well as the general public on many areas
related to water and water management. The focus is on data rather than on
interpretive text. Indexed.
Ref. TD351 q.V36 1990
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Finding Books
To find items owned by the library, search LUCIA. Try a Subject begins with search, for example, water or rivers or fox river. Some subject headings are divided further by geographic regions, so look through the list of headings that appear--you may find useful resources listed for specific locations. LUCIA will list other subject headings (and subheadings) which may be of interest. For advanced research you should consult the Library of Congress Subject Headings, or LCSH, a guide to the terms commonly used in catalogs like ours. The LCSH can be found on the shelves behind the Reference Desk on the first floor of the library.
To combine terms for a different kind of search, try a Keyword Anywhere search. LUCIA will look for the terms you specify anywhere in the important areas of the cataloging records, and display a list of those records. You might want to try a search for water and wisconsin. You can also do more complicated keyword searches like pollut* and (river or rivers). The asterisk acts as a truncation symbol and tells LUCIA to search for all words starting with pollut: pollution, polluted, polluting etc. The parentheses tell LUCIA to combine either the term river or the term rivers with the previous term. Without the parentheses, only the first term, river, would be combined with the results of the search for pollut*. You might want to try searching for some of the terms you find in the LCSH, or target your keyword search by using the Subject Keyword option. This tells LUCIA to look for the terms in the subject area of the records only. A Subject Keyword search for geolog* and resources or a more complicated search like wisconsin and geolog? and (resources or water) could be very productive.
Books are arranged on the library's shelves by Library of Congress Classification. This is a system that organizes materials by general subjects. Once you have a call number from searching LUCIA, see this guide to call number locations at Mudd to find out where a book might be on the shelves.
Search LUCIA for materials in our library; try WorldCat to find materials beyond the Mudd. Make sure you've thoroughly searched our library before going to WorldCat. See a reference librarian if you need help.
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Finding Articles
Only a few possible sources for articles are listed here. You may also want to consult sources on health, law, or public policy, depending on the focus of your research. Be sure to check the Electronic Resources page for other options. Two of our resources, JSTOR and Project MUSE provide complete full text. Some of our indexes include:
"Materials relating to all aspects of agriculture, forestry, and animal science." Available to researchers on the Lawrence campus through FirstSearch.
BasicBIOSIS
Provides references to journal literature in the life sciences. Available to researchers on the Lawrence campus through FirstSearch.
EBSCOhost.
Follow the link for EBSCOhost Web. EBSCOhost provides a single Web source for multiple databases; you might want to select the Academic Search Elite. Contains broad and specialized coverage of academic and general periodicals. Use the Go or Back button on your browser after exiting EBSCOhost to leave the system.
Expanded Academic ASAP.
Broad coverage of academic periodicals. Includes full text of some articles.
Lexis/Nexis Academic: News
A version of the Lexis Nexis database for academic users. Provides access to a wide range of periodicals, and includes news, business, legal, and reference information.
Once you have a citation for an article on your topic, look in LUCIA for the title of the journal or newspaper to see if the library owns it. You should also search BESS, an automated search of the library's fulltext databases, for electronic copies of articles.
You may also want to browse some of the library's journals. The titles of these can be found by searching for subjects like ecology--periodicals or by a keyword search for water and su periodicals.
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Government Resources
Federal
Environmental Protection Agency
The Web site for the EPA is incredibly rich in information. You do have to
do some digging, but it's well worth the time. You may want to start by
following the link for
EPA Programs, and going to regional
information, or by following one of the more
specific links listed below under Internet Resources.
http://www.epa.gov/
Monthly Catalog of United States Government Publications.
Some call it the Monthly Catalog, some GPO, some MOCAT, but it's all the
same thing--the bibliography to the resources published by the United States
Government Printing Office.
Paper copy up through 1995--Reference Indexes
Also available to researchers on the Lawrence campus through FirstSearch as
GPO Monthly Catalog, searchable from 1976 to the current year, updated each
month.
Toxic Release Inventory.
A publication of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of
Toxic Substances. Indexes include categories such as: facility name index,
standard industrial classification code index, chemical substance index.
U. S. GOVERNMENT DOCUMENTS (Microfiche) -- EP 5.22:
Also available on the Web. The EPA's Office of Pollution Prevention and
Toxics (OPPT) provides
background information on the TRI at
A searchable version of the TRI is available at
State
The Wisconsin Documents Collection is located on the second floor. Most Wisconsin Documents can be retrieved by a publisher keyword search in LUCIA. For example: madison wi. This can be combined with other keywords, for example water and madison wi to find records containing the word "water" that are for items published in Madison.
Lower Fox River Basin Water Quality Management Plan: Public Review Draft.
Draft plan from 1999
Wisconsin Documents Nat.1/6: F81/1999
The Fox River Coalition: A Regional Partnership Dedicated to Cleaning Up Contaminated Sediment and Improving Water Quality in the Fox Valley.
Wisconsin Documents Env.2: F81/4/1995
Take a look at the sources listed below for State of Wisconsin websites.
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Web Resources
State of Wisconsin
Lower Fox River Contaminated Sediment Alternatives
The main Fox River PCB cleanup web site.
http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/org/water/wm/lowerfox/
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
The DNR is concerned with many of the same issues as the EPA, but
broader as well, such as parks and outdoor recreation. The sections on
Environmental
Protection and
Natural Resources will be helpful for information on water quality.
http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/
PCBs and Your Health
From the Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services. Includes fact sheets and advice on limiting exposure to PCBs.
http://www.dhfs.state.wi.us/eh/HlthHaz/fs/PCBlink.HTM
EPA Sites:
Envirofacts Data Warehouse
"A single point of access to select US EPA environmental data."
http://www.epa.gov/enviro/index_java.html
Fox River Cleanup
The main site from the EPA, with many links and pointers to further information.
http://www.epa.gov/region5/sites/foxriver/
Fox River Current
News about the cleanup and restoration.
http://www.epa.gov/Region5/sites/foxriver/fox_current.htm
Great Lakes Programs
Includes copies of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement and related
reports and responses.
http://www.epa.gov/grtlakes/
Surf Your Watershed
You might want to try the Locate Your
Watershed feature to start. Provides details on many aspects of water in
specific areas.
http://www.epa.gov/surf/
Other sites:
CIESIN: Consortium For International Earth
Science Information Network
(CIESIN, pronounced "season") was established in
1989 as a private, nonprofit corporation with members from leading universities
and non-government research organizations, and is dedicated to the study of
global environmental change.
http://www.ciesin.org/
National Extension Water Quality Database
Provides access to educational resources created by the USDA's Extension
Services.
http://hermes.ecn.purdue.edu:8001/water/
PCBs and the Fox River
An excellent guide produced by the staff of the Appleton Public Library.
It includes information on community groups and services related to the Fox
River, and on finding articles from local papers.
http://www.apl.org/community/pcb.html
University of Wisconsin Sea Grant Institute
And you thought Wisconsin was just a land grant institution. A partnership
of federal, state, university, and private concerns dedicated to research and
education on marine resources.
http://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/
Wisconsin Water Resources Institute
"The Water Resources Institute coordinates research programs which are applicable to the solution of present and emerging water resource problems." You may want to check the resources of the The Water Resources Library.
http://www.wri.wisc.edu/index.asp
Yahoo! Rivers and Streams
Selected Internet resources on water and water quality.
http://www.yahoo.com
Of course, there are many more web resources available that might be useful in your research. You might want to try looking at sources that select the best of the Web, like these:
It's important to think carefully about any information you find in any format, and to evaluate resources for their accuracy, applicability, and so forth. Evaluation of web resources is especially important. You may want to consult this guide to Evaluating Internet Resources, or this bibliography on Evaluation of Information Sources. You can often learn a lot about a page (and a site) by parsing the URL.
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Further Suggestions
Encyclopedia of Associations.
An important source of contact information on groups interested in water
quality.
Ready Ref. HS17 q.G33
Hazardous Chemicals Desk Reference.
Provides brief information on approximately 5,000 materials, including
basic chemicals, pesticides, dyes, detergents, lubricants, plastics,
preservatives, ores, soaps, and more.
Ref. T55.3.H3 S33 1987
The Merck Index : An Encyclopedia of Chemicals, Drugs, and Biologicals.
One of the most widely used chemical and biomedical encyclopedias. Arranged
alphabetically, and includes an index by chemical formula.
Ref. RS51 .M4 1983
Sax's Dangerous Properties of Industrial Materials. 3 vols.
Provides up-to-date information on chemical hazards, including a hazard
rating, physical properties, toxicity data, and a safety profile.
Ref. T55.3 q.H3 S3 1992
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Style Manuals
Be sure to verify with your professor the citation format required. Some of the resources below might prove useful.
Academic Citation and Writing
Style manuals of the humanities, physical sciences, and the social sciences in the Seeley G. Mudd Library.
The Chicago Manual of Style.
A standard source for bibliographic format.
RRef. Z253 .U69 2003
Scientific Style and Format: The CBE Manual for Authors, Editors, and
Publishers.
The Council of Biology Editors guide. This style is used by many
publications in the biological sciences.
Ref. T11 .S386 1994
Citing Electronic Documents
This page provides guidance on citing electronic documents and links to
other guides, some on specific styles of documentation.
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About Research on the Water Quality of the Fox River
If you are just beginning to research water quality of the Fox River, you may want to go through this guide section by section. Please be aware that research is not always a linear process. You may want to start with information from the sources listed as general guides or from the encyclopedias and dictionaries and then progress on to books or journal articles. Further on in your research you may need to return to the general resources to fill in gaps in your knowledge of the field; for example, you may need to return to the dictionaries to define unfamiliar terms that crop up in your reading. You may need to consult more general resources like the Encyclopaedia Britannica.
Material related to this topic will be drawn from many fields; be prepared to look at materials from economics, history, environmental ethics, geology, and policy studies, just to name a few. In addition to consulting catalogs and indexes, be sure to look at bibliographies supplied at the end of relevant articles, chapters, and books, and to search library catalogs for book-length bibliographies.
Your sources must be fully documented in any work you produce. It may help to look at the information on style before you start your research, so that you will have all the required documentation at hand when you need it. Then as you write, go back to the resources on style for details on the exact format of your citations.
The sources listed in this guide were chosen for the broad coverage they provide. Direct links are provided to Internet resources and searchable databases, as well as links to LUCIA, the library's online catalog. Be sure to check the library's Electronic Resources page regularly to see new databases and indexes; some of these will only be available to users on the Lawrence campus. Also, you may want to take a look at guides on related topics from the Library Research Guides page.
Evaluating the resources you find is an essential part of the research process. See this guide to hints on evaluation of books and articles and this guide to evaluating Internet resources.
As always, if you have any questions be sure to ask a Reference Librarian.
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Definitions of terms and abbreviations:
GovDoc = U.S. Government Documents, second floor
Microform Area = Reading room east of the reference desk, near microform drawers
Periodicals = Level A
q. = Oversized books: interfiled in reference and scores; at end of classes in other collections
Ref. = Reference collection, first floor
RRef.= Ready reference, shelves behind the reference desk
Reference Indexes = Alphabetically arranged at the end of the reference collection
Wis = Wisconsin Collection, fourth floor
Wis Doc = Wisconsin Government Documents, second floor
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