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Environmental Planning and Policy


Resources for Analytical Essay

There are a variety of resources available via the University Libraries Web site to assist with this assignment.  

Off Campus Access Reminder :   If you are accessing the web site off campus and your internet service provider is not UC, you must login via the library proxy server in order to access the database resources listed below.   This web link will provide you with the necessary information: http://www.libraries.uc.edu/information/access.html


Evaluation of Resources

It is important that you locate information of the appropriate scholarly level.   The resources listed below index scholarly journals in the field of economic development and environmental policy.   Many of the resources provide the ability to limit your search to articles that only appear in "scholarly or peer reviewed" journals.   This may be a useful feature for compilation of your literature review.   Google is not an option for this assignment, unless you can locate a viable organization/government web site.   For more information on how to evaluate web sites, you may wish to consult some guides on evaluating sources.


Access to Electronic Full-Text
 

In many cases, you will be able to retrieve the full text of the article via the database.   When full text is available, most of the databases will provide a link directly to the article. You may also want to consult the electronic journal finder to ascertain if electronic full text of a particular journal title is available from multiple databases:
 Full-text Journals

Another option is the OhioLINK Electronic Journal Center which is a searchable multidisciplinary database of scholarly journals to which the library directly subscribes.

Access to Print Journals

Not all journal articles are available in electronic format.   The fact that they are not available electronically has no bearing on the relevance or contribution to scholarship of the article.   Therefore, it is important not to discard articles that are not available electronically. For articles that are not available electronically, search Library Catalog -- Search by Journal Title   from the Article Resources page to see if the Library owns the journal.   If UC does not own the journal, we can acquire the article for you, via Inter-library loan (ILL).   Consult the ILL page for additional information on this service. It is important to keep in mind that this service does take a few weeks.

Recommended Resources

The links on the Research & Class Guides page on DAAP Library Web site provide access to a broad cross-section of resources related to planning:

http://www.libraries.uc.edu/research/subject_resources/planning/index.html

Many of these resources are focused on particular subjects associated with planning, such as economics, sociology, or design.   There is no one index that will provide all the information you need and it is suggested that you consult a variety of these indexes using keywords that relate to your topic.

Listed below are some terms that might be useful as you begin your search.   You might want to conduct a broad search and then narrow it to a particular geographic region.

Sustainable development
Economic development
Conservation of natural resources
Environmental policy
Economic development - environmental aspects

Key Databases

Keep in mind; depending on your particular area of focus, the many other indexes listed on the subject pages/planning page may be relevant.

ABI /INFORM Complete   Connect

Academic Search Premier Connect

Econlit Connect

Environment Complete Connect

PAIS Connect
 

Example of a Search Strategy

Selected topic: Is ecotourism a viable concept to stimulate the economy in India?  

It is always beneficial to see if there are books on the topic.   Books may provide some general information and lead you to additional information in footnotes and bibliographies.   If you search UCLID using the keyword, Ecotourism there are many books.   You can select individual titles and also search by subject.

 Once you have assembled some background information, you may wish to search under names of specific authors or scholars you have identified, or you may wish to search using broad terms.   For example, if you search Econlit using the keywords ecotourism and India, you retrieve several articles - some are more scholarly than others - you can read the articles and continue your search in additional databases.

You can conduct the same search on other databases and then piece together the information as required by your instructor.

Scholars often specialize in a particular research area.   When you identify an author who has written books or articles on a topic, conduct an author search for that person's name to find additional resources.

 

 

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This file was last modified on 07/25/08