Library Resources for Research
What is a Scholarly Source?
Scholarly Sources include articles, books, and other types of writings that have been written and published by experts in a particular field. Scholarly sources are often defined as having undergone the peer review process. Generally, the peer review process is an evaluation of an academic work (a submitted manuscript or preprint) done by other professionals (reviewers) in the same field. Many scholars consider an article trustworthy once it has been peer-reviewed; when crafting a bibliography for a course assignment, it is often expected that most sources be peer-reviewed, and some professors require this for all sources (ask your professor!).
Scholarly sources can be found in journals, academic databases, and online search engines. Below is a short list of databases you can use when searching for articles in Environmental Science & Environmental Studies.
Environmental Science & Environmental Studies Databases
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Databases & E-Reference in EnvironmentView all OU Libraries databases and eReference materials associated with your subject.
General Science
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Web of Science This link opens in a new window
Coverage: 1900-present
Multidisciplinary index covering leading scholarly journals in the sciences, social sciences, and humanities. Includes the Web of Science core collection and the following databases: Biological Abstracts, BIOSIS Citation Index, BIOSIS Previews, Current Contents Connect, Grants Index, KCI-Korean Journal Database, MEDLINE, Preprint Citation Index, ProQuest Dissertation and Theses Citation Index, SciELO Citation Index, and Zoological Record. Some full text is available.
For more information about using this resource, view the publisher's online tutorial.
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Natural Science Collection This link opens in a new window
Coverage: 1946-present
Searches across multiple ProQuest science databases, covering topics in agricultural and environmental science, biological science, and earth, atmospheric, and aquatic science. Materials include journal articles, eBooks, videos, magazines, and more.
For more information about using this resource, view the publisher's online tutorial.
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SciFinder Discovery Platform This link opens in a new window
Chemical Abstracts Service database of the chemical literature; indexes journals, conference proceedings, patents, dissertations, reports, and books. Includes step-by-step synthetic procedures for reactions, as well as retrosynthesis information. Some full text is available.
NOTE: To access this resource, users must register with their OU email while on campus. After registration, SciFinder can be used off-campus, but must be accessed through the University of Oklahoma Libraries' website. After logging into the Libraries' website with an OU 4x4 and password, click on the appropriate link below:
- Register as a new user while on campus
- Access SciFinder after registration (on campus)
- Access SciFinder after registration (off-campus)
For more information about using this resource, view the publisher's online tutorials.
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Google ScholarGoogle Scholar enables you to search for literature, including peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, preprints, abstracts, and technical reports from all broad areas of research. However, it indexes these items automatically and you should take care to verify the scholarly nature of items you find. Additionally, sometimes the OU Article Linker does not work correctly from Google Scholar results; in those cases take the title, journal, or authors and search in a database from the Libraries website.
Environmental Sustainability
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GreenFILE This link opens in a new window
Coverage: 1910-present
A database covering all aspects of human impact to the environment. Its collection of scholarly, government, and general-interest titles includes content on global warming, green building, pollution, sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, recycling, and more.
For more information about using this resource, view the publisher's online print or video tutorial.
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Environmental Engineering Abstracts This link opens in a new window
Coverage: 1990-present
Environmental Engineering Abstracts covers world literature pertaining to technological and engineering aspects of air and water quality, environmental safety, and energy production. More than 700 primary journals are thoroughly indexed and abstracted.
For more information about using this resource, view the publisher's online tutorial.
Geography
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GeoBASE This link opens in a new window
Coverage: 1980-present
A part of Elsevier's Engineering Village, GeoBASE covers human and physical geography, geology, oceanography, geomechanics, ecology, nature conservation, international development, and related disciplines. Materials indexed include journals, books, conference proceedings, and reports.
For more information about using this resource, view the publisher's online tutorial or information sheet.
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GeoScience WorldGeoScience World is a comprehensive resource for research and communications in the geological and earth sciences. Built on a core database aggregation of peer-reviewed journals, this database is linked and inter-operable with GeoRef. Provides access to journals by over 30 earth sciences publishers and indexing for over 2,000 books.
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Collaborative Indigenous Research Digital Garden"Our aim in creating the CIR Digital Garden is to promote and expand the field of Collaborative Indigenous Research. We wish to highlight the methods, ethics, theories of change, and forms of knowledge mobilization present in Collaborative Indigenous Research methodologies." Filter by discipline.
Human Geography
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Anthropology Plus This link opens in a new window
Coverage: 18th century to present
Covers the fields of anthropology, archaeology, art history, demography, economics, psychology, and religious studies. Materials indexed include journal articles, book series, reports, commentaries, obituaries, and the complete contents of Anthropological Literature: An Index to Periodical Articles and Essays.
For more information about using this resource, view the publisher's online print or video tutorial.
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America: History and Life This link opens in a new window
Coverage: 1910-present
Covers the history and culture of the United States and Canada from prehistoric times to the present, including topics in the social sciences and humanities. Materials indexed include journals articles, book reviews, media reviews, and dissertations.
For more information about using this resource, view the publisher's online print or video tutorial.
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Indian Claims Insight This link opens in a new window
Coverage: 1789-present
Indian Claims Insight allows researchers to understand and analyze Native American migration and forced resettlement throughout U.S. history, U.S. Government Indian removal policies, and subsequent actions to address Native American claims against the U.S. Government. This collection includes congressional publications, treaties, maps, and docket materials for all Indian Claims Commission cases, as well as cases that preceded and followed the existence of the commission.
For more information about using this resource, view the publisher's online tutorial.
Finding Journals
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OU Libraries Journal SearchDo you know of a specific publication you're looking for? Search for journals by title or ISSN.
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Annual Review of Environment and ResourcesJournal covering topics in the environment and resources.
What is Grey Literature?
Grey literature sometimes refers to documents that are not published commercially or not readily accessible via library databases.
These documents may include conference papers or proceedings, theses or dissertations, handbooks, codes of safety data, clinical trials, government documents, etc.
Grey literature search tips:
- Identify the important professional societies in your discipline, and search their web sites for publications or report series.
- Examine the "works cited" section of influential published books and articles on your topic.
- Use a web browser such as Google to search for "grey literature in engineering" or "grey literature in economics" (or whatever your discipline is).
- Consult your librarian.
Looking for handbooks and encyclopedias? Go to the Background Information page. Looking for datasets? Go to Quantitative & Qualitative Analysis!
Dissertations
Dissertations Written by OU Students
- Visit OU Libraries Discover/Local Catalog
- Search by author or title.
- Online full text access to doctoral dissertations (Masters' theses are not available electronically).
- Print copies can be checked out (shelved by author's last name in the Great Reading Room, with overflow into the nearby Decks).
- SHAREOK Repository https://shareok.org/
- Joint repository of digital items for OU and OSU
- Since 2014, OU dissertations have been deposited there so that they are freely available
- Items can be found through a Google (or other search engine) search.
Dissertations & Theses from Other Universities
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ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global This link opens in a new window
Coverage: 1861-present
Indexes U.S. doctoral dissertations completed at accredited institutions since 1861 and dissertations and theses, most with abstracts, from the U.K. and Ireland since 1716. This database includes some dissertations from Canada and Europe, as well as some master's theses and foreign language dissertations. Most OU dissertations are full text through summer 2013; after that date, find OU dissertations in SHAREOK. Most dissertations from other institutions, 1997 to present, are full text. To obtain full-text pre-1997 dissertations, use the interlibrary loan.
For more information about using this resource, view the publisher's online tutorial.
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DART-Europe E-theses PortalProvides access to dissertations from European higher education institutions. "The DART-Europe partners help to provide researchers with a single European Portal for the discovery of Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)."
Professional Societies in Environmental Sustainability
To find grey literature, identify professional societies in your discipline and use a web browser such as Google to search their web sites for publications or report series or search for "grey literature" plus your discipline. The list below is non-exhaustive and adapted from University of Southern California. Want to recommend an addition to the list? Email libstem@ou.edu.
- American Academy of Environmental Engineers and Scientists
- American Solar Energy Society (ASES)
- International Solar Energy Society (ISES)
- Association of Climate Change Officers
- Engineers for a Sustainable World
- International Hydropower Association
- International Society for Industrial Ecology (ISIE)
- International Society of Sustainability Professionals (ISSP)
- Society Conservation Biology
- Society of Wetland Scientists (SWS)
Environmental Sustainability Government Documents
Federal Resources
- Census Bureau
- Department of Agriculture, National Resources Conservation Service
- Department of the Interior
- Environmental Protection Agency
- Environmental Protection Agency, Environmental Impact Statement Database
- Environmental Protection Agency, Toxic Release Inventory Program
- Geological Survey, Mineral Resources Program
- GQuerty Global Cross-Database Search
- Library of Congress: Science and Technology
- National Science Foundation (NSF)
- Science.gov
- US EPA: Tar Creek
International Resources
- European Union Homepage, Europa
- UNESCO: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
- United Nations, Food and Agriculture Organization
- United Nations Homepage
- World Food Programme
State Resources
- Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology
- Oklahoma Climatological Survey
- Oklahoma Conservation Commission
- Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality
- Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation
- Oklahoma Mesonet
- Statistical Abstract of Oklahoma
- USGS, Water Resources of Oklahoma
Questions? Reach out to OU Government Documents Librarian Jeffrey Wilhite.
Patent Searching
Business Information
- GreyNet International
- World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
- Industry Reports OU Libraries guide
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Business Source Elite This link opens in a new window
Coverage: 1984-present
Business Source Elite covers business, management, economics, banking, finance, and accounting. Materials indexed include scholarly and peer-reviewed journals. Some full text is available.
For more information about using this resource, view the publisher's online print or video tutorial.
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ABI/INFORM This link opens in a new window
Coverage: 1971-present
This resource covers business and management topics with information on more than 60,000 companies through journals, newspapers, executive profiles, reports on market conditions, and in-depth case studies of global business trends. Includes Snapshots North America, Oxford Analytical Research, The Wall Street Journal, and MIT Sloan Management Review.
For more information about using this resource, view the publisher's online tutorial.
Popular Treatments of Geography & Environmental Sustainability
What are Popular Works?
Popular works consist of publications that do not undergo the same vetting process as a scholarly source (i.e. peer review).
Newspapers and magazines are considered popular works – check out OU Libraries Newspapers & Magazines guide, and our Popular Magazines guide to learn what you have access to.
Popular works are more timely, but still require some measure of evaluation before using it for assignments. Visit the News Literacy research guide for information on identifying fake news, teaching news literacy, and resources for fact-checking.
Know of a good popular work? Send us your recommendations: libstem@ou.edu
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Sea People
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Call Number: DU510 .T56 2019ISBN: 9780062060877Publication Date: 2019"How did the earliest Polynesians find and colonize these far-flung islands? How did a people without writing or metal tools conquer the largest ocean in the world? This conundrum, which came to be known as the Problem of Polynesian Origins, emerged in the eighteenth century as one of the great geographical mysteries of mankind. For Christina Thompson, this mystery is personal: her Maori husband and their sons descend directly from these ancient navigators. In Sea People, Thompson explores the fascinating story of these ancestors, as well as those of the many sailors, linguists, archaeologists, folklorists, biologists, and geographers who have puzzled over this history for three hundred years." -
Fire on the Plateau
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Call Number: E 78 .C617 W55 1999 ( The Strickland Collection of Native Peoples Law)ISBN: 9781559636476Publication Date: 1999"The Colorado Plateau, stretching across four states and covering nearly 80 million acres, is one of the most unique and spectacular landscapes in the world. Remote, rugged, and dry -- at once forlorn and glorious -- it is a separate place, a place with its own distinctive landscape, history, and future.In Fire on the Plateau, legal scholar and writer Charles Wilkinson relates the powerful story of how, over the past thirty years, he has been drawn ever more deeply into the redrock country and Indian societies of the Colorado Plateau." Recommended by firstnations.org -
A Mind Spread Out on the Ground
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Call Number: E78.C2 E487 2019ISBN: 0385692382Publication Date: 2019"A Mind Spread Out on the Ground is a personal and critical meditation on trauma, legacy, oppression and racism in North America. In an urgent and visceral work that asks essential questions about Native people in North America while drawing on intimate details of her own life and experience with intergenerational trauma, Alicia Elliott offers indispensable insight and understanding to the ongoing legacy of colonialism. What are the links between depression, colonialism and loss of language--both figurative and literal? How does white privilege operate in different contexts? How do we navigate the painful contours of mental illness in loved ones without turning them into their sickness? How does colonialism operate on the level of literary criticism? A Mind Spread Out on the Ground is Alicia Elliott's attempt to answer these questions and more." -
The Warmth of Other Suns
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Call Number: E 185.6 .W685 2010 (also available online)ISBN: 9780679444329Publication Date: 2010"In this beautifully written masterwork, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Isabel Wilkerson chronicles one of the great untold stories of American history: the decades-long migration of black citizens who fled the South for northern and western cities, in search of a better life. From 1915 to 1970, this exodus of almost six million people changed the face of America. Wilkerson compares this epic migration to the migrations of other peoples in history. She interviewed more than a thousand people, and gained access to new data and official records, to write this definitive and vividly dramatic account of how these American journeys unfolded, altering our cities, our country, and ourselves." -
Soundings
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Call Number: GA 407 .T43 F45 2012ISBN: 9780805092158Publication Date: 2012"Her maps of the ocean floor have been called "one of the most remarkable achievements in modern cartography", yet no one knows her name. Soundings is the story of the enigmatic, unknown woman behind one of the greatest achievements of the 20th century. Before Marie Tharp, geologist and gifted draftsperson, the whole world, including most of the scientific community, thought the ocean floor was a vast expanse of nothingness. " -
Longitude
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Call Number: QB 225 .S64 1996ISBN: 9780802715296Publication Date: 2007"Lacking the ability to measure their longitude, sailors throughout the great ages of exploration had been literally lost at sea as soon as they lost sight of land. Thousands of lives and the increasing fortunes of nations hung on a resolution. One man, John Harrison, in complete opposition to the scientific community, dared to imagine a mechanical solution-a clock that would keep precise time at sea, something no clock had ever been able to do on land. Longitude is the dramatic human story of an epic scientific quest and of Harrison's forty-year obsession with building his perfect timekeeper, known today as the chronometer." -
Kinship: Belonging in a World of Relations, 5-Volume Set
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Call Number: QH541 .K56 2021ISBN: 9781736862551Publication Date: 2021We live in an astounding world of relations. We share these ties that bind with our fellow humans--and we share these relations with nonhuman beings as well. From the bacterium swimming in your belly to the trees exhaling the breath you breathe, this community of life is our kin. For many cultures around the world, being human is based upon this extended sense of kinship. Kinship: Belonging in a World of Relations is a lively series that explores our deep interconnections with the living world. These five Kinship volumes--Planet, Place, Partners, Persons, Practice--offer essays, interviews, poetry, and stories of solidarity, highlighting the interdependence that exists between humans and nonhuman beings. -
The Omnivore's Dilemma
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Call Number: GT 2850 .P65 2007ISBN: 9780143038580Publication Date: 2007"What should we have for dinner? Ten years ago, Michael Pollan confronted us with this seemingly simple question and [...] demonstrated that how we answer it today may determine not only our health but our survival as a species."
News
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EurekalertNews releases from the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).
Podcasts
Videos
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Internet ArchiveNon-profit archive dedicated to preserving digital content.
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PBS VideoPublic Broadcasting Service
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Kanopy Streaming Video This link opens in a new window
Provides access to streaming video supporting classes in the arts, business, health, media/communication, science, humanities and education.
Note: Kanopy video access is mediated. Any video not currently licensed for use will require the user to request access. Access is enabled for class use with instructor approval.
For more information about using this resource, view the publisher's online tutorial.
The Library's Role Is Providing Access
OU libraries subscribe to both databases and publications to connect you to many different types of resources. Below is a list of helpful tutorials and handouts that will help you navigate the OU libraries' website and databases. These resources will also show you how to access full-text sources and provide tips and tools when searching on the databases and library catalog.
If you find yourself getting stuck at any point in the research process, don't hesitate to reach out to the Research Help Desk or the STEM Services team for assistance.
Struggling to find the full text of an item? Look for the OU Link to Article button in the database or try searching the library catalog. Check out OU Libraries' Finding Full Text guide. You can also try the interactive tutorial, Access Full Text. If we don't have a resource available here, often another library has it and is willing to send us a copy via Interlibrary Loan. The Lean Library browser extension can make accessing full text easier and will even direct you to Interlibrary Loan where needed.
OU Libraries Handouts
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Popular vs. ScholarlyLearn about the differences between popular sources and scholarly sources.
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What are databases?Learn about databases and how to access them from OU Libraries' website.