Research Guides: ENVS 101: Case Studies in Environmental Issues (BMC/HC) Fall 2024: Develop Your Search Strategy

Choose a topic

True confession...I google!

I googled 'undergraduate environmental topics'.

Or google something more specific that you already have in mind
Look through classes required readings or topics outlined in your syllabus; or used a recent news story or your own experiences for ideas.
The resource below may also give you ideas.

Gale in Context: Environmental Studies
Online resource that focuses on the academic study of sustainability and the environment. Offers authoritative content on the development of emerging green technologies and environmental and sustainability issues in such categories as energy systems, healthcare, agriculture, transportation, economics, and ecology. Allows users to navigate by issue, organization, and country portals. Includes news, video, primary source documents, interactive maps, contextual multimedia, customizable journals, and news and refereed case studies.

Brainstorm Search Words

Example

I stumbled across this article which got me interested in how eating meat can affect the environment.

I ended up at this research question: How does eating meat impact global warming?

Step 1: Break up this research question into two or three main concepts.

Concept #1: meat
Concept #2: impact
Concept #3: global warming

Step 2: Brainstorm synonyms, acronyms, and variant spellings.

Concept #1: meat, livestock
Concept #2: impact, effect
Concept #3: global warming, climate

Understand Boolean Operators

Even if the search engine you are using doesn't require you to enter boolean operators, it is still using them behind the scenes. It will help you to know the logic behind your search.

AND gives you results that include ALL of your concepts.
OR gives you results that include ANY of your concepts.

For example, you might search:

(meat OR livestock) AND (impact OR effect) AND ("global warming" OR climate)