LibGuides: Environmental Ethics: Searching

Smart Searching

To save time and effort when searching the library's online databases, try these searching tips:

Brainstorm a variety of keywords to use when searching (global warming, climate change, environmental health)

Use quotes to search for a phrase ("colony collapse disorder")

Connect keywords with and (agriculture and environment

Use or to search synonyms (swine flu or H1N1)

Use * to get different word endings (ethic* will find ethics, ethical, and ethically, etc.)

Use the peer reviewed, scholarly, or refereed search limiters in databases.

Finding Search Terms

Encyclopedias and Dictionaries are great places to find search terms on a new topic:

LigerCat can create a list of terms from the research literature in PubMed and the National Library of Medicine:

Journal and Magazine Articles

GreenFILE This link opens in a new window
GreenFile focuses on humans' impact on the environment. Its collection of titles includes content on global warming, green building, pollution, sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, recycling, and more

ProQuest Newsstand
Over 250 full-text state, national, and international newspapers.

Academic Search Premier This link opens in a new window
Covers most subjects, with lots of full text, lots from peer reviewed sources.
Philosopher's Index This link opens in a new window
Covers aesthetics, epistemology, ethics, logic, and metaphysics. Includes the philosophy of disciplines such as education, history, law, religion, and science.
Scopus This link opens in a new window
Scopus offers broad coverage of scientific, technical, medical and social science literature. It includes academic, peer-reviewed and trade journals, as well as patents and scientifically oriented websites. Also covers all Medline content.
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
JSTOR covers complete back issues of journals of major research journals in a variety of academic disciplines. (Coverage ends at 4 years prior to the present year.) This is a great resource for back issues of journals like Science.
Google Scholar This link opens in a new window
Google Scholar provides a simple way to broadly search for scholarly literature. From one place, you can search across many disciplines and sources: articles, theses, books, abstracts and court opinions, from academic publishers, professional societies, online repositories, universities and other web sites. On-campus, you'll see links to full text to which our library has access. Off-campus, you can indicate your affiliation with Bethel and see those same full text links by amending your Google Scholar settings, as per these instructions.

All Bethel Databases

Journal Finder

Need to track down a journal, magazine, or newspaper citation? Check here to see if we have subscription access.

If the journal does not appear in this search or the available date range does not match the date you need, request the item via ILLiad.

E Reference

Try these online encyclopedias, dictionaries and handbooks for background, context, and definitions. They also usually include brief but excellent bibliographies that point you to further research on the subject.

Credo Reference This link opens in a new window
Contains numerous reference titles--encyclopedias, dictionaries, handbooks, guides, etc.--in many subjects.

Dictionary of Environment and Conservation
Contains entries on all aspects of environmental science and conservation. Social as well as scientific in focus, it provides comprehensive coverage of the social aspect of environmental science. . .and ecology, as well as biographies of key figures in the field.
Encyclopedia of Life
Has as its mission to "increase awareness and understanding of living nature through an Encyclopedia of Life that gathers, generates, and shares knowledge in an open, freely accessible and trusted digital resource."
Encyclopedia of Science, Technology, and Ethics
Considers both the professional ethics of science and technology, and the ethical and political issues raised by science and technology in an increasingly complex and global society.
Encyclopedia of the Earth
(EoE) is an electronic reference about the Earth, its natural environments, and their interaction with society. The EoE is a free, expert-reviewed collection of content contributed by scholars, professionals, educators, practitioners and other experts who collaborate and review each other's work. The content is presented in a style intended to be useful to students, educators, scholars, professionals, as well as to the general public.
Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy
This well-respected, multi-volume set will have substantial articles on various ethical issues.
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Open access online encyclopedia published by Stanford University.
U*X*L Encyclopedia of Weather and Natural Disasters,
Covers such topics as weather basics, weather phenomena, forecasting, and climate.

Search Help

Check out our online database guides for help searching CLICnet, Scopus, and many other online databases.