English 132 :

Ecology of the Text

[Students are encouraged to contact the liaison librarian for research assistance. Ask quick questions by e-mail, or call or drop by the office. In-depth research consultations are also available by appointment.]

Research Basics

• Research is a complex process. It does not proceed in a linear fashion, but rather is a cumulative endeavor. Give yourself plenty of time for your project and be willing to adjust your thesis as you learn more about the topic.

• Keep careful records of your research journey: write down complete bibliographic information for the sources you find; record your discovery path so that you can retrace your steps if needed; and note what keywords and subject headings you have used in your searches and which databases you have utilized.

• Cast a wide net initially, and only then begin to winnow out treasures. By developing a rich context for your research you will be able make your analysis and interpretation all the more sophisticated.

• Develop a habit of reflection. Don't just read and repeat the work of others; think about and evaluate what has been written and strive to develop your own voice.

• Develop the cognitive flexibility to appreciate nuances and handle ambiguities. The end product of research--the written paper--is your chance to contribute to the world of ideas and knowledge!

 

Make sure that you have an adequate understanding of the geography--physical, historical, and cultural--of the area you are studying.

• Contemporary maps (both physical and political) can be found in the vertical files just off the reference books area on the first floor. U.S. maps are organized by state and then by region. Maps of world regions are also available.
  • Atlas of Hawaii, 3rd ed. / Reference Atlas G 1534.2 U5 1998
  • Atlas of the Pacific Northwest / Reference Atlas G1466.G3 O7 1993
  • Atlas of United States Environmental Issues / Reference Atlas 1201 G3 M3 1990
  • Atlas of World Physical Features / Reference Atlas G 1046 .C1 S6 1972
  • Washington: A Centennial Atlas / Reference Atlas G1485 .S36 1989
  • Wilderness: Earth's Last Wild Places / Reference Oversize QH 75 .W49 2002
  • World Atlas of Desertification / Reference Atlas G 1046 .J4 M5 1992

• Historical atlases are helpful for visualizing shifting border, development, and industrial change over the centuries. See, for example:
  • Atlas of U.S. and Canadian Environmental History / Reference Atlas GF 503 A84 2003
  • Historical Atlas of Canada, 3 vols. / Reference Atlas G 1116 S1 H5
  • Historical Atlas of the Pacific Northwest / Reference Atlas F851 .H38 1999
  • Historical Atlas of Washington / Reference Atlas G1486.S1 S3 1988
  • The Perry-Castañeda Library at the University of Texas has digitized a fine collection of Washington maps, including historical city maps of Seattle and Tacoma.

If you are looking for a specific book:

• Start with SIMON, the catalog of books and other materials held at Collins Library

• For books not available (or checked out) in SIMON, try SUMMIT, a combined catalog of holdings in over 30 regional academic libraries. Books ordered through SUMMIT will be delivered in two to four business days.

• For books not available in either SIMON or SUMMIT, try WorldCat. Books identified through WorldCat may be ordered through Interlibrary Loan (ILLIAD). Books ordered through Interlibrary Loan can take from ten days to a few weeks to be delivered.

If you are looking for books on a particular topic:

Keyword Searches: Enter a variety of terms in SIMON that you think describe your topic. When you call up a record that seems promising, mine its subject terms to find similar items. To do this, simply click on one of the subject headings listed in the record for the book; the next screen will list all the books in Collins Library that share this subject term. You may also mine subject headings in SUMMIT and WorldCat.

Subject Searches: Familiarize yourself with the Library of Congress Subject Headings and the call numbers associated with them. You may also consult the print version (red volumes)--ask for them at the Information Desk. Library of Congress Subject Headings are not always predictable and may reflect previous generations' biases. Here are some sample subject headings so that you can get a feel for the wording and structure typical of Library of Congress Subject Headings.

• Ecology in literature
• Landscape in literature
• Natural history literature -- United States
• Natural resources -- Washington (State)
• Nature in literature
• Northwest, Pacific
• Philosophy of nature in literature
• Puget Sound region (Wash.)
• Tacoma (Wash.)
• Washington (State) -- History
• Wilderness areas in literature

When you find a subject heading that describes what you are looking for, you can run searches on SIMON or SUMMIT and/or go up to the stacks and browse the shelves within that call number range. Never underestimate the effectiveness of browsing!

Your research process must include a search of the relevant periodical literature. Books, valuable as they are, cannot contain all of the information and scholarly study and interpretation out there. Popular magazines provide yet another window on culture. The library subscribes to hundreds of journals, whether in print or electronic versions (or sometimes both). Through Interlibrary Loan, you also have access to thousands more journal titles.

Database Searching:

Always search more than one database!

How to select a database: A to Z list, by subject, general and reference, full text. If you have no idea where to start, go to the Research Gateway, select the appropriate subject, and see what databases are listed there. If you are doing interdisciplinary research, you should consult more than one subject on the research gateway.

 

Relevant databases for English 132:

General (popular literature)

These databases index popular magazines, newspapers, and book reviews. Some also provide the full text of the article in addition to the citation.

Alternative Press Watch --Covers all topics from a non-mainstream perspective.  Coverage is international and interdisciplinary.

Lexis-Nexis Academic Best source for worldwide newspapers, coverage typically from the 1990s (full text). Click on "News" over on the left sidebar to access advanced search functions.

Newspaper Source Contains full text articles from 245 regional U.S. newspapers. Includes Seattle Times from February 1997 to the present and the News-Tribune (Tacoma) from September 1997 to the present.

Washington State Newsstand - Full-text coverage of major Washington newspapers including the daily newspapers from Seattle, Tacoma, Spokane and Vancouver, plus selected coverage of other regional sources.

Academic Search Premier -- fulltext multidisciplinary database of thousands of scholarly and popular magazines (Time, Newsweek, U.S. News & World Report, etc.). For popular magazines, full text begins in the early to mid-1990s. After running your search, click on "Newspapers" or "Magazines" to limit the results to popular sources only.

Subject related -- These databases index scholarly journals and sometimes books in a single subject area or discipline.

America: History and Life. Indexes journal articles, book reviews and dissertations in the subject areas of American, Canadian, and Native American history from prehistoric times to the present.

Literature Resource Center -- full-text resource on authors

MLA Bibliography Indexes books, journal articles, essays in books, working papers, conference proceedings, and dissertations in the subject areas of language, literature, linguistics and folklore. This is the preeminent database for literary studies

Social Sciences Index - Citations and abstracts pertaining to the social sciences, including anthropology, economics, geography, law, political science, psychology, social history, and sociology.

Search Methods:

Almost all databases can be searched by keywords. Try as many keywords as you can think of to describe your topic. Once you have located an article that fits what you are looking for, look at its subject headings (called "descriptors" in some databases). Conduct a new search using these subject headings and you will get much better focused results.

Obtaining Articles:

There are three methods for obtaining the actual articles you wish to read.

Method 1: In some databases, you will be able to link directly to the full-text article. If given the choice between a PDF or HTML version of the article, always choose the PDF format. This will give you an exact image, including page numbers, of the article as it appears in the paper journal.

Method 2: If a direct link to full text is not available, then check the Journal Locator to see if the library subscribes to the journal. Paper, electronic and microform holdings are included; be sure to check the dates of coverage for each format.

Method 3: If the article you want is not available full text through the database and is not available in paper format in the library, then request the article through Interlibrary Loan by filling out the form in ILLIAD, or, if available, clicking on the "ILL" or "Interlibrary Loan" button in the database. Often you will receive an electronic version of the article less than a week.ase. Often you will receive an electronic version of the article in less than a week.

The University of Puget Sound is a selective depository library for both the federal government and Washington State. A great deal of government information is also available on the Web.

Government print resources in the library can be checked out. Consult this Guide to Government Documents for more help in locating government publications in the library.

Web links -- Federal Government

• U.S. National Park Service
• U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Web links -- Washington State government

• Puget Sound Clean Air Agency
• Washington Department of Ecology  
• Washington Department of Natural Resources   

You may find the following links useful, but make sure that you thoroughly understand how to evaluate a Web source.

National 

• Association for the Study of Literature and the Environment
• Ecological Society of America, Issues in Ecology
• National Council for Science and the Environment (NCSE)
• National Library for the Environment (NCSE)
• National Resources Defense Council: Reference/Links

Regional

• Columbia River Web Sites
• Center for the Study of the Pacific Northwest [University of Washington]
• Northwest History [King County Library System]
• Northwest Room includes "unsettling events," Washington place names database, ships and shipping database, essays about the Puget Sound by Murray Morgan and more [Tacoma Public Library]
• Pacific Institute - Studies in Development, Environment and Security