GETTING STARTED:
There are many ways to find information - but first you will want to be able to state your goals and information directives. One point of departure may be the Social Ecology Subject Guides (one corresponding to each academic department) or to other relevant Subject Guides. Additional guides that may be helpful may be Environmental Sciences, Education, Medicine, Sociology, News and Newspapers, Government Information (for US, CA, Orange County, or International), etc.
EVALUATING INFORMATION:
It is critical that you establish criteria to help evaluate the sources of information. The following criteria are helpful in doing that:
1. Audience
2. Purpose
3. Objectivity
4. Currency
5. Coverage
6. Accuracy
7. Authority
8. Relevancy
9. Ease of use
FINDING JOURNAL ARTICLES AND USING DATABASES - you may want to consider using some of the interdisciplinary and general databases identified on the Databases to Get You Started list. To determine whether you can expect full text content or if the UCI Libraries have the articles, use the Get-at-UC icon, which will take you to the holdings in UC Library Search
FINDING BOOKS & BOOK CHAPTERS - use UC Library Search - a discovery catalog for all 10 campuses - You can conduct an advanced search and restrict to the UCI Library Catalog (across the top) and use the pull-down menus in each box to enter your search strategy - may be easiest to search by keyword to retrieve items in title, subject headings or table of contents/notes; or you can use the side bar to retrieve books and book chapters and even restrict to "available online" - but make sure that you click on ADD FILTERS
SPECIALIZED DATABASES - the following databases cover scholarly journals, but also some of them index and abstract books, book chapters, dissertations and theses, government information and occasionally include some websites. Take advantage of searching those on a common platform together when appropriate or the specialized features to make your search more refined and relevant. Selective databases that may be appropriate may include: (* all on Proquest/CSA platform & can be searched either independently or together: ** all on Ebsco platform & can be searched togehter)
SELECTIVE REFERENCE SOURCES - there are many reference sources that will assist you with background information, some basic bibliographic references and factual information. It is suggested that you use these resources to verify dates, data, information about individuals, etc. Also consult Liaison Librarians Julia or Nicole or schedule a consultation with them.
You may want to consider resources that provide data for a certain geography such as local demography, state of California, US or federal documents. Documents can be searched in Google or UC Library Search. Reach out for assistance if needed.
Demographic & Census Data - in order to see what the census is for various population centers or targets, consult these sources:
The Publication Manual of American Psychological Association, 7th edition,2020, is the current style manual to follow. It is available at each library's reference collection at BF76.7 .P83 2020. There are other tools that help support the manual noted here with more examples of how to cite different information sources. Please consult often!!
