Library Guides: AFR 105: African Biodiversity and Conservation: Search Tools

LionSearch

LionSearch This link opens in a new window
an integrated search of books, e-books, research articles, newspaper articles, and other publications.

The CAT

Catalog (Penn State University Libraries catalog) This link opens in a new window
Use your identified keywords in The CAT to find books, audio & video formats, e-books, and titles in microformat in the Penn State Libraries' collections.
Find help using The CAT:
This is the online catalog of materials owned by Penn State Libraries. All formats (books, journals, audiovisuals, maps, recordings, etc.) are included. Circulation status for individual items is also provided. Coverage: Presently contains about 7 million records. Updates: Continuous up-to-the-minute as new records are added.

Encyclopedias

Encyclopedias [print or online] and oher reference sources can provide valuable background information about your topic. Add the word encyclopedia to your LionSearch or CAT search to find print and online encyclopedias in the Libraries. Selected titles:

The Environment : Gale Virtual Reference Library (GVRL)
GVRL provides access to many online encyclopedias about the environment.

The Oxford Companion to Global Change by Andrew Goudie; David Cuff; David J. Cuff
Publication Date: 2008
a comprehensive, interdisciplinary guide to the range of issues surrounding natural and human-induced changes in the Earth's environment. Brings together current knowledge about the relations between technological, social, demographic, economic, and political factors as well as biological, chemical, and physical systems.

The Oxford Companion to Global Change [online]
online via Oxford Reference.

Google Scholar

Google Scholar This link opens in a new window
use your identified keywords to find articles, digitized books, government documents, and other scholarly resources about your topic.
Google Scholar enables you to search specifically for scholarly literature, including peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, preprints, abstracts and technical reports from all broad areas of research. Use Google Scholar to find articles from a wide variety of academic publishers, professional societies, preprint repositories and universities, as well as scholarly articles available across the web. Once you set your institutional preferences, links to full-text, if available at Penn State, should appear.

Using Google Scholar Tutorial
Instructions on how to "link" Google Scholar to the Penn State University Libraries.

Libraries' Databases

GreenFILE This link opens in a new window
a collection of scholarly, government and general-interest titles that cover all aspects of the human impact on the environment..
GreenFILE is a database focusing on the relationship between human beings and the environment, with information on topics ranging from global warming to recycling to alternate fuel sources and beyond. Comprised of scholarly and general interest titles, as well as government documents and reports, GreenFILE offers a unique perspective on the positive and negative ways humans affect the ecology. Drawing on the connection between the environment and disciplines such as agriculture, education, law, health and technology, GreenFILE will serve as an informative resource for anyone concerned about the issues facing our planet.
Environmental Sciences Collection This link opens in a new window
a ProQuest database focused on the environmental sciences.
The Environmental Sciences Collection provides abstracts and references to the environment literature covering all areas of air, land, water, and noise pollution as well as bacteriology, ecology, toxicology, risk assessment, environmental engineering, environmental biotechnology, waste management, and water resources from 1967 to the present.
Ecology Abstracts (within the Environmental Science Index) This link opens in a new window
includes research about different types of ecosystems and how organisms interact with these environments.
Ecology Abstracts focuses on how organisms of all kinds - microbes, plants, and animals - interact with their environments and with other organisms. Also includes works on the impacts of environmental change. Coverage is from 1982 to date.
National Geographic Magazine Archive, 1888-2020 This link opens in a new window
find articles about the environment, climate change, and other related topics that have been published in National Geographic.
Featuring the complete archive of the magazine from 1888 to 2020, National Geographic Magazine Archive includes every page and every photograph, providing in-depth coverage of cultures, nature, science, technology and the environment. The database is fully searchable by subject, geography, or image.