In ENVR 1302 you will be creating a presentation and completing a worksheet by doing research on your chosen environmental justice topic. I am eager to help you with your research, citations, and document creation!
Environmental Justice Case Study Options:
1. If you have chosen your topic, you are ready to start researching. If you have not yet chosen your topic and want to learn more about each choice, you will want to do some background research using your course lectures and readings, or the following suggested sites and databases:
2. You will need 6 sources (image sources count toward the 6), 2 of which have to be from peer-reviewed sources.
For the peer-reviewed sources, start at the library homepage and choose the "Peer-Reviewed" tab.
Other recommended individual library databases useful for this class assignment can be used to locate peer-reviewed sources, as well as articles from magazines and newspapers.
You can also use Google Scholar to locate peer-reviewed articles, then link to get the full-text from our MCC library databases, if the full-text is not available freely on the internet.
"What the heck is a database?"
A library database is a searchable collection of digital items (such as journal or newspaper articles). Database companies collect these items to fill their databases. They then charge an access fee to organizations or individuals who wish to access the information stored in their databases.
MCC Library Services pays that access fee for faculty, staff, and most students (with the exception of continuing-education students.) In fact, we provide you with access to 162 databases. View the Databases A-Z list to see a description of every database we provide.
Use the content on this page to help you locate and refine your topic, strategize for effective searching, and locate tutorials on searching the library's research databases.
Use a basic research database, news database, or environmental news website to locate environmental justice topics for your project.
If you need to show evidence from contrasting and many points of view within an argumentative or informative paper, keep in mind:
1. Do not expect to find one article that covers all viewpoints. The point of your research is to synthesize information from many sources that address the contrasting sides or various aspects.
2. Do not use the words "pro" or "con" in your search. Consider some of the viewpoint terms listed below:
Neutral terms: argument, case, controversy, debate, effect, impact, issue, legislation, opinion, policy, proposal, propose, solution, viewpoint.
Pro terms: advantages, advocate, agree, benefits, in favor, proponent, strengths, support, sympathize.
Con terms: antagonist, consequences, disadvantages, disagree, drawback, limitations, problems, risks, shortcoming.
3. Search for words and phrases that address what you expect to be the different viewpoints or aspects of your topic. For instance, if researching the future of Social Security, you might use "social security" and reform, "social security" and shortfall, or increase and "retired population" and "social security."
4. Do not type your entire research question into the search. For example, "Should the United States government continue to provide Social Security as a retirement option?" Instead, turn your question into keywords and phrases - "united states" and debate and "social security" and future.
The video below will teach you the basics of using the MCC Library's search engine (which is located on the library's homepage). It includes information on:
The video below will teach you to use the cite, share, and save button's on the item-preview screen.
The video below will teach you to find more information about a search result by accessing its record page.
