Health and Environmental Agency Web Sites
Government Documents Web Site, MSUM Library -- Links to federal, state, and local government information.
Centers for Disease Control. Can find specific articles from universities, government agencies, and more, such as this one: Liability for Damage Caused by Agricultural Chemical Drift. Also try the Ag Safety Database.
Environmental Protection Agency -- Searchable site, includes laws/regulations; information resources; and educational resources.
Healthfinder -- A "free guide to reliable consumer health and human services information, developed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services."
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Natural Resources Conservation Service -- Includes links to state conservation districts on the Web.
Federal Emergency Management Association (FEMA)
National Institutes of Health -- Try a site search to go directly to information, or try to find the appropriate institute by clicking on "Institutes, Centers, and Offices." Includes a link to the Environmental Information Service
Tracking Legislation on Environmental and Other Issues
THOMAS -- Library of Congress's link to tracking federal legislation -- Can do a keyword search or track a specific bill.
Statistical Information
News Sites and Databases
National Newspapers 5 Database -- Click on "National Newspapers 5" and then select your search method. Gives full-text access to newspaper articles, updated DAILY, including the Wall Street Journal; Minneapolis Star Tribune; New York Times; and more.
Firstsearch: Datatimes and NewsAbs -- Datatimes indexes U.S. regional and local newspapers. NewsAbs includes significant items from 50 U.S. newspapers.
Finding Background Research: Books
WebPALS -- Look for books within the Tri-College consortium and the state of Minnesota.
Firstsearch: Worldcat -- Look for books at libraries across the world.
Finding Background Research: Periodicals
WebPALS Periodicals Databases -- Includes the databases: General Magazines; Expanded Academic Index; New York Times Index; Health Index; Business Magazines; Government Documents; and more.
Gale/Infotrac Periodicals Databases -- Some of the same databases as in the WebPALS periodicals, but they are updated daily instead of monthly, and the full-text articles include graphics.
Firstsearch -- Search 47 databases in multiple disciplines -- Great for a variety of research needs. Tells you if we own a particular resources at MSUM. Try BioAgIndex or one of the other Biology databases, or FactSearch for useful statistics on a topic, such as "pesticides," or one of the Newspaper databases, such as NewsAbs or DataTimes.
ScienceDirect -- Full-text scientific and other articles from hard-science journals.
MEDLINE/PubMed -- This vast database by the U.S. National Library of Medicine recently gained a new interface described at the site as "a single search interface with pull-down menus that display search field limits, indexes, your search history, and a clipboard for gathering selected articles."
Environmental Information: Search Engines, General Sites
Yahoo's Environment and Nature Category -- Includes links to sites involving Climate Change; Conservation; Environmental Policies; Global Change; Global Warming; Government Agencies; Pollution; Regional Information, and more. Try the "Agricultural Pollution" category as an example.
Environmental Organization Web Directory -- Subject-categorized environmental issues and agencies. Includes a section on Land Conservation, that addresses Erosion, Wetlands, and more.
National Agriculture Safety Database (CDC)
Rachel's Environmental and Health News Weekly -- A publication of the Environmental Research Foundation -- Includes a list of environmental organizations by region and topic.
Christie List of Links: Health Concerns of Pesticides
Environmental Health Information Service -- From the National Institute of Health
Considerations When Conducting Online Research
Consider your creator of the resource AND the sponsor -- Will the agency or site have potential bias, or will the information be coming from a particular point of view? Will a pharmaceutical company web site perhaps be glossing over information about its products being harmful? Should you look at .com sites differently than .gov or .edu?
Consider the date -- Is it important that the date of the information be current? Do you want outdated information?
Remember -- It is becoming increasingly easy to develop web content -- Nearly anyone can, and will, put information on the Internet. Be choosy -- be critical.
For more on evaluating resources, particular those you find on the Internet, consult the Evaluating WWW Resources workshop page from MSUM Library.
Back to the MSUM Library Web Site
http://www.mnstate.edu/library/instruct/investigate.htm
Updated by Brittney Goodman, 10/9/01, goodmanb@mnstate.edu