G184 Dittmer Global Climate Change: Article Databases
Library database searching for climate change research
This page provides a list of library databases recommended for G184 students, as well as some tips for narrowing a topic to keep it manageable and some database search tip strategies.
You will likely want to search some databases that include information from a broad range of sources, such as what you will find on the Articles tab on the library home page, and some databases focusing on science research.
If you are new to database searching, start by watching this video tutorial:
Finding articles through the PCC Library (4 minutes)
Library Databases for G184
- Academic OneFile (Gale) This link opens in a new windowAcademic OneFile is a starting point for peer-reviewed, full-text articles from the world's leading journals and reference sources. Covering the physical sciences, technology, medicine, social sciences, the arts, theology, literature and other subjects, it contains millions of articles available in full-text. Includes full-text New York Times content from 1995 to present.
- Academic Search Premier This link opens in a new windowFull text for more than 4,500 scholarly social sciences, humanities, general science, education and multi-cultural journals. 3,700 are peer-reviewed.
- Access Science This link opens in a new windowAn online version of McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science & Technology and McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms. It contains nearly 9,000 online encyclopedia articles, terms, images and videos related to sciences and technology. The Study Center provides essay topics, study guides and bibliographies.
- Gale Ebooks (formerly GVRL) This link opens in a new windowGale eBooks has over 200 encyclopedias and specialized reference sources for multidisciplinary research. Look here for biology, chemistry, nursing and medicine, sociology, history, education, law, and more.
- GreenFILE This link opens in a new windowScholarly, government and general-interest content on global warming, green building, pollution, sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, recycling, and more.
- ScienceDirect This link opens in a new windowFull text for more than 1,000 peer-reviewed life sciences, Health Science, physical sciences, and engineering journals with citation information for thousands more. Look for the "Full-text available" indicators to view articles online. View the Science Direct handout.
- US Major Dailies This link opens in a new windowFull text newspapers from five U.S. national and regional newspapers: New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, and the Chicago Tribune
Climate Change eBooks and streaming videos
The PCC library catalog provides access to hundreds of eBooks and streaming videos on climate change. Here are some recommended titles.
Climate Change : the science of global warming and our energy future by Call Number: eBookPublication Date: 2018-09-11
Tips for Narrowing a Topic
If you're getting too much information and too many unrelated results, your research topic may be TOO BROAD. Here are some tips for narrowing down your topic:
- Add in additional search terms to give your topic some context.
- Focus on a time period.
- Focus on a geographic region.
- Focus on a specific population (teenagers, children, college students, etc.).
- Limit your search to full-text articles.
- Limit your search to articles published in scholarly and/or peer-reviewed sources.
EXAMPLE:
Instead of: stress (too broad)
Try this: How have college students used meditation to help reduce stress?
Sample keyword searches:
"college students" AND meditation AND stress
"college students" AND meditation AND "stress reduction"
Search Strategy Overview
1. Use quotation marks around two or more words in a search term to locate them as an exact phrase.
2. Break up your question into separate keywords and use different boxes for each idea.
3. Brainstorm synonyms and related concepts and include them in your search using OR.
4. Use an asterisk (*) to locate root words that have different endings.
- will bring back child, childs, children, childrens, childhood
- will bring back meditate, meditation, meditators, meditative