Agriculture -- Information Strategy/Sources

Information Strategy -- a basic guide for tracking down relevant, high-quality information needed for papers, lab reports, discussions, and other purposes

1. Define ... a topic by gathering background/overview information; help formulate your question

Sources:

AccessScience (the online version of the McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science & Technology and Yearbooks, current science news from Science News magazine, biographies of scientists, and more)

Encyclopedia Britannica Online

Additional relevant encyclopedias, dictionaries, and other publications that may provide this type of information and are held locally can be located by searching the Library Catalog and then limiting by Location: Reference.

2. Identify ... specific sources of information about the defined topic--to answer your question

Databases (1 general/non-technical -- indepth/more scholarly 5):

1. Academic Search Premier (broad scholarly/popular coverage of the Sciences, Social Sciences, and Humanities)

To supplement the above database, try --

LexisNexis (useful for coverage of newspapers and some popular magazines 1980's-present; use the Guided News Search)

For materials published prior to the beginning of the above databases, try --

Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature (in paper; covers 1890-present)

2. Grinnell College Libraries Catalog (for everything except articles)

Academic Search Premier (broad scholarly/popular coverage of the Sciences, Social Sciences, and Humanities)

PAIS International (description)

To supplement the above databases, try --

Anthropological Literature

Economic Literature (description)

History:

America: History and Life (scholarly coverage of the history of North America)

Historical Abstracts (scholarly coverage of the history of the rest of the world)

United States Federal Government Documents

For materials published prior to the beginning of the above databases, try --

Periodicals Index Online

PAIS Archive

3. AGRICOLA (description)

To supplement the above database, try --

AGRIS International (for publications on Agriculture outside the United States; description; contact Science Librarian for use of this database)

Environmental Sciences & Pollution Management (description)

4. CAB Abstracts (description; contact Science Librarian for use of this database)

To supplement the above database, try --

WorldCat (description)

5. Science Citation Index (description; contact Science Librarian for use of this database)

For materials published prior to the beginning of the above databases, try --

Biological Abstracts (in paper; covers 1926/1927-1968)

Reference Sources:

Sources of Statistics

Taxonomy Database (National Center for Biotechnology Information, National Library of Medicine)

Water:

Ground Water & Drinking Water (United States Environmental Protection Agency)

Drinking Water Standards

List of Drinking Water Contaminants & MCLs

Ground Water & Drinking Water Topics

Standard methods for the examination of water and wastewater (in paper)

USGS Water Resources Data of the United States (United States Geological Survey; description)

3. Locate ... the publications identified above at Grinnell or elsewhere--get your information

Grinnell College Libraries Catalog

Search for Full Text (journal, magazine, and newspaper articles; Article Linker)

Interlibrary Loan

Other Library Catalogs:

Iowa State University Library Catalog

University of Iowa Libraries Catalog

4. Evaluate ... the validity, objectivity, and usefulness of the information