Core 106 New Wild West: People and the Environment

research guide
Librarian: Nancy Sprague
E-mail: nsprague@uidaho.edu

UI Library Website: www.lib.uidaho.edu

Theme 1: Defining the West: Moscow, Idaho - Short Research Project
For this project you'll work with a team to research a key local issue. To help understand this issue, you'll locate and read news articles on your topic, summarize your findings, and make a short presentation in class.

Here are some tips to help you find the information you'll need for this project:

Finding News Articles

To find newspaper articles for a specific geographic region such as the West, search the following newspaper indexes. These are available via the UI Library's website.

Title/Description
Lexis/Nexis Academic: Click on Lexis/Nexis, then click on the News tab. Lexis/Nexis provides the full text of recent news articles.
Newspaper Source: Provides access to additional regional and national newspapers.

When searching for news articles about your lifestyle, try to narrow down your search as much as possible. For example: gold mining and Idaho

Use newspaper articles to:

  • Get current information on your topic
  • Find specific examples
  • Find quick facts and statistics
Additional Resources for Research on the New Wild West
Reference Books
The reference collection is located on the first 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. Reference works (both print and electronic) can also be found by searching the library catalog. Remember to make your search terms general as reference works tend to have broad coverage. Some reference books are now located in the UI Library Main Stacks on the third and fourth floors.

Title/Description

Call #
New Encyclopedia of the American West Ref F591.N46 1998
Encyclopedia of Frontier Biography Ref F596.T512
American Environmental Leaders Ref GE55.B43 2000
World Who is Who and Does What in Environment & Conservation Main Stacks GE55.W67
The Mythical West Ref GR109.S53 2001
Encyclopedia of Women in the American West Main Stacks HQ1438.W45E53 2003
Pioneer Conservationists of Western America Main Stacks S926.A2
The Environmentalists: a Biographical Dictionary from the 17th Century to the Present Main Stacks S926.A2A94
Encyclopedia of American Forest & Conservation History Main Stacks SD143. E53

 
Books
Books may contain a broad overview of a topic or an in-depth exploration of a topic. Books range from popular to scholarly and as with all sources, you should be aware of the author's credentials. 

Keep 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. 
  • The bibliography in a book can be a great place to find additional sources.
How To Find Books
Books located at the UI Library, the UI Law Library, NIC Library (North Idaho College in Coeur d'Alene), and LCSC Library (Lewis Clark State College in Lewiston) can be found by searching the Library Catalog. 
Selected Books for the New Wild West

Many useful books about the West can be found in the section F594-F596 on the fourth floor. Examples of other helpful books are listed below.
 

Title/Description

Call #
Western Writers Series PS 271.B65
Portable Western Reader PS 509.W47P67

 
Articles
Articles are found in periodicals.  Examples of periodicals are magazines, journals, and newspapers. Scholarly (also called peer-reviewed or refereed) journals are one of the primary means of disseminating ideas in academic scholarship. 

If you are unsure how to differentiate between a scholarly journal and a popular magazine, some helpful websites are:
How To Find Articles
To find articles published in magazines or journals, search for your topic in the Library's article databases.  First, select an appropriate database from the Library's Finding Articles page. 

The next to the database title gives information about the coverage of the database. 

After selecting a database to search, type in your search terms. Articles are generally more specific than books and may require a narrower search. 

 

Selected Article Indexes for the New Wild West

Title/Description
Academic Search Premier (Ebsco):  Contains the full-text of some articles. Articles are from a wide range of magazines and journals.
America: History and Life:  No full-text of articles, abstracts only. Many of the articles will need to be requested through Interlibrary Loan. This is a good database for finding regional historical  materials. Only one user at a time so try later if you can't access the database.
Environmental Sciences and Pollution Management: Contains the full-text of some articles. Articles are primarily from peer-reviewed, scholarly journals. 
Government Information
Government publications come from state, federal, and foreign governments, as well as intergovernmental organizations like the United Nations. Many government publications are primary source documents. 

Keep in Mind:

  • A great place to look for statistical information
  • Government publications are often organized differently than the other collections in a library. Ask a reference librarian for help.
  • The University of Idaho Library is both an Idaho state and federal depository library. This means we have most government publications from these two jurisdictions.
How To Find Government Resources
Government documents can be difficult to find. Find U.S. Government Documents is a good place to start. Once you have a call number for an item, you need to go to Government Documents on the 1st floor of the library.
 Internet Resources
 Information on the Internet ranges from the free web to electronic books, journals, etc. that the library pays for. The Internet can be a good source for many different types of information. However, it is important to remember that anyone can publish something on the Internet and it is critical to evaluate your source carefully. The library's Website Evaluation Criteria can help you choose reliable information.
How To Find Internet Resources
For some tips on the difference between search engines, subject directories, and the invisible web see this UC Berkeley tutorial Types of Search Tools.
Selected Internet Resources for Government Information 

Title/Description

URL
Bureau of Land Management http://www.blm.gov
U.S. Forest Service http://www.fs.fed.us
Fish & Wildlife Service http://www.fws.gov
Bureau of the Census (detailed site) http://www.census.gov
Bureau of the Census (quick facts) http://factfinder.census.gov

  Selected Internet Resources for Opinions and Points of View

Title/Description

URL
Western Watersheds Project http://www.westernwatersheds.org
Range Net (grazing reform) http://rangenet.org
Blue Ribbon Coalition (ORV) http://www.sharetrails.org
Mountain States Legal Foundation http://mountainstateslegal.org
Greater Yellowstone Coalition http://www.greateryellowstone.org
Intermountain Forest Association http://www.ifia.com
Friends of the Clearwater http://www.friendsoftheclearwater.org
Alliance for the Wild Rockies http://www.wildrockiesalliance.org

  Selected Internet Resources for Historic Photographs

Title/Description

URL
American Memory (Historical collections from the National Digital Library) http://memory.loc.gov/
New Perspectives on the West (Includes memoirs and journals used for the PBS series on The West, as well as links to images and other useful resources) http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/
Primary vs. Secondary Sources
Sometimes, you will be required to use primary and/or secondary sources in your research. It can be difficult to know the difference. The same source might be a primary resource for one topic and a secondary resource for another. The website below will help you to locate and understand the difference between the two types of sources.
Citing Your Sources
Citing your sources gives credit to the author and also allows other researchers to locate the works that you used in your paper. Guidelines for citing your sources, along with examples, can be found in style guides listed on the following websites:
If you need additional help with your research, try: