CORE 127/177: War and Our World


Library resource guide

Librarian: Nancy Young

E-mail: nyoung@uidaho.edu

UI Library Website: www.lib.uidaho.edu

If you need additional help with your research, try:

The Research Question
Sometimes the most difficult part of a project is to think of a topic and then refine it into a focused, usable research question. Here are some resources that might help with this:
--The University of Idaho Library’s Information Literacy Tutorial Module 2 covers all aspects of choosing a topic, narrowing or broadening your focus, and trying different approaches to general subjects.
--Opposing Viewpoints Database: Topics included here tend to be of a pro/con or controversial nature, so it’s a good place to get research ideas that will generate discussion. You can browse through the Popular Topics list (which includes topics like “War Crimes,”  “Biological Weapons” and “Nuclear Weapons” or search by keywords such as warfare, ecology, environment
--CQ Researcher: Each week this full text electronic publication focuses on a different issue that’s currently in the news. You can search by keyword or browse all reports by date or topic. The beauty of this source is that there is usually a pro/con section, a bibliography, chronology, and links to related topics and websites. Try keywords such as: war and the environment, veterans, warfare.
Finding Potential Sources

Books
Books (either shelved in the stacks on third and fourth floor or in the Reference area on the first floor) can be the best place to start your research. 
Use books with the following in mind:

  • Books on a broad topic may contain chapters or essays on your topic. Often these are not indicated by the title. When searching, think both broadly and narrowly. 
  • Check the index of a book to find your subject.
  • The bibliography in a book can be a great place to find additional sources.
  • Books range from popular to scholarly and, as with all sources, you should be aware of the author's credentials.

How To Find Books in the Stacks or in Reference

The reference section is located on the 1st floor of the library. Because it is a fairly small area, browsing the shelves in the general area of your topic is a quick way to look for relevant material. Books are shelved using the Library of Congress classification scheme.
Search the library catalog to find books in all the following categories

  • Print and electronic
  • Located at the UI Library
  • Located at the UI Women's Center (in Memorial Gym)
  • Located at the UI Law Library
  • Located at NIC (North Idaho College, Coeur d'Alene)
  • Located at LCSC (Lewis-Clark State College, Lewiston)

If you are not looking for a specific author or title, a keyword search could work well. Examples of keyword searches are:

  • child? +war? (? Truncates the word so you will get books with the words children, children's, etc.)
  • war +encyclopedia
  • war +environment? +effect?

Note: Capitalization is not necessary. Also, make sure to look at the detailed record or, if available, the Table of Contents for a book. This will give you a clearer idea of whether the book contains information that will be useful to you.

  • Here’s a quick tutorial on how to use the University of Idaho Library online catalog.
Articles in Journals

Scholarly (also called peer-reviewed or refereed) journals are one of the primary means of disseminating ideas in academic scholarship.  For a quick review of these concepts, take a look at Module 1.3 of the University of Idaho Library’s Information Literacy Tutorial.
Articles are located by searching for your topic in an article database (sometimes called an article index).
After clicking on Find Articles, use the dropdown menu for Databases by Subject. Two useful subject areas are “CSS/Envrionmental Studies” and “Political Science.”

For an overview of databases and how to search them effectively, see Module 3 of the Information Literacy Tutorial.

Selection of Databases Useful for CORE 127/177

CAB Direct
Subjects covered include animal science; crop protection; plant science; parasitology; human and animal nutrition; natural resources and ecology; forestry, forest products and agroforesty; soil science; rural development, tourism and economics; food science and food products; biotechnology; and agricultural engineering..

Environmental Health and Toxicology Databases
Databases containing data and citations on toxicity, mutagenicity, releases and hazards of various substances and products . Some of the databases included are Household Products Database, HSDB (Hazardous Substances Databank), IRIS (Integrated Risk Information System) and TRI (Toxic Release Inventory). Also provides links to resources in environmental health, biological and chemical warfare, West Nile Virus, environmental justice and alternatives to animal testing

Environmental Sciences and Pollution Management
Abstracts and citations covering the environmental sciences are drawn from over 4000 scientific journals and thousands of other sources including conference proceedings, reports, monographs, books and government publications.

Columbia International Affairs Online
Comprehensive source for theory and research in international affairs. Includes working papers from university research institutes, occasional papers series from NGOs, foundation-funded research projects, proceedings from conferences, books, journals and policy briefs

Military and Government Collection
Designed to offer current news pertaining to all branches of the military, this database offers a collection of periodicals, academic journals and other content pertinent to the increasing needs of those sites. The Military & Government Collection provides cover-to-cover full text for nearly 300 journals and periodicals. The database also includes full text for 245 pamphlets and offers citations and abstracts for nearly 400 titles.

JSTOR
A collection of the back issues of full text older scholarly journals.  No issues in the last 3 years are included. One of the disciplines that offers journal-by-journal title browsing is “Architecture & Architectural History.”

Google Scholar
Google has a specific search that takes you to a variety of more scholarly publications (not just articles, but many types of documents).  It is much less defined than the databases above. Some items retrieved are not strictly scholarly. Searching it results in a scatter of publications, all of which need to be scrutinized.  However, it is an impressive resource, sometimes pulling up articles not found elsewhere, old and new.  Sometimes you will see a link called “U Idaho Article Linker” to determine if the UI Library has the journal.
Getting Your Hands on the Article
Many articles are available in full text in the databases. You will see links for HTML or for PDF Full Text formats. If the article in a database is not available in full text, look for the link or symbol for “Article Linker.” AL_Button_big Clicking on this link will automatically search our library catalog to find out if we have print or electronic copies of the article.  If the UI Library doesn’t own or provide access to the article, journal or book that you need, register for and use the free interlibrary loan service to obtain the item from another library.  Use Article Linker (see above) to connect to interlibrary loan from the record for a specific article or book, or use the Interlibrary Loan link from the library home page.
Listing References/Citing Sources
You will need to cite your sources properly in MLA or APA style. Here are some links that will be helpful.
UI Library’s Page of Electronic Style Guides http://www.lib.uidaho.edu/instruction/elec_style_guides.htm
Sample Paper: MLA Style http://www.dianahacker.com/resdoc/p04_c08_s5.html
Sample Paper: APA Style http://www.dianahacker.com/resdoc/p04_c09_s4.html
The ease of cutting and pasting from electronic resources can lead to putting your name on a work that is not really yours. This is both illegal and unethical. The ease of cutting and pasting from electronic resources can lead to putting your name on a work that is not really yours. This is both illegal and unethical. That is why the University of Idaho has a plagiarism policy. For more tips on what plagiarism is and how to avoid it, see Modules 6.4, 6.5 and 6.6 of the Information Literacy Tutorial