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Days &
Times: T&Th 10:00-11:50 (x-period: W 3:00-3:50)
Instructors:
Bill D. Roebuck,
Kathryn B. Kirkland
Biomedical Libraries: http://www.dartmouth.edu/~biomed/
Dana Library Reference Desk
Hours:
1PM to 5PM; 6PM to 9PM Monday - Thursday
1PM to
5PM Friday
1:30PM to 5PM Saturday
Sunday - no reference
staff
Reference Mail: Biomedical.Libraries.Reference@Dartmouth.EDU
Reference Phone: 650-1660
In class
presentation:
Pamela Bagley
Research and Education Librarian
Dartmouth Biomedical Libraries
Pamela.Bagley@Dartmouth.edu
COURSE DESCRIPTION (from
syllabus)
Humans are rapidly altering the global
environment and now dominate many ecological systems. In building cities,
countries, and their economies, growing food, and harvesting natural resources,
humans have changed the health of populations, especially in the developing
world. This course will examine human disease as an indicator of and response
to alterations of the environment at local to global scales. It will also
examine impacts of pollutants on human health and populations. Four human
activities will be discussed: impoverished concentrations of people, intensive
agricultural practices, severely polluted human environments, and global
environmental changes. With globalization, many chemicals, pharmaceuticals,
emerging diseases such as Ebola virus, as well as recognized epidemics such as
AIDS, and more recently, acts of bioterrorism pose new challenges to the
medical community, policy makers, and the public. Taking an interdisciplinary
approach, this course will examine the connections between health, diseases and
chemical exposures, our economies, and the ability of nations to work to
improve the human condition.
TERM PAPER (from syllabus)
(25 points)
Topic:
Most people glean
their environmental health news and information from pubic media such as TV
news shows, TV specials, talk shows on radio and TV, newspapers, news
magazines, and "political action" organizations. The mix of these sources is
changing and newer sources such as Internet websites and chat groups are
becoming important sources. The volume of news and information appears to be
increasing. Unfortunately, the quality of the information is often very poor.
In many cases the reader is provided with incomplete information and no data to
support a conclusion much less reach one's own conclusion based upon scientific
information. Often environmental health articles in the lay press appeal to
one's dread fears of disaster, death, or worse outcomes.
Imagine that you are a science reporter for a
major newspaper and contribute to its regular column, “Global
Environmental Issues.” Write an article for this column. The article must
be of current interest and importance and must focus upon the effects of the
environment upon the human organism. Your article must be based upon and
contain primary scientific literature. Documentation that the issue is of
current interest and importance must be provided.
Due Date
2:00 pm, 21 May.
Please deliver the term paper and one copy to Anne French, Environmental Studies
Program, 113 Steele Hall.
Details of Paper
Items 1, 2,
and 3 below must be delivered:
1. Cover letter-to-the-editor (one page,
single-spaced) arguing scientifically the importance of the topic. This cover
page should include: a) a brief statement explaining why your scientific
article must appear in “Global Environmental Issues,” b) evidence
that the topic is of current interest and importance, and c) a list of critical
scientific citations.
2. A title page with an informative title, an
abstract no longer than 100 words, and a list of 3 to 5 key words for indexing
of your article. Your name must not appear on the title page. Put it on the
back of the last page of your article.
3. Your draft newspaper article
for “Global Environmental Issues” absolutely must not exceed 4 pages
of text (double spaced, 12 point type and 3/4 inch margins all around). If
additional pages of text are submitted, they will likely not be read. The
challenge is to convey a written message succinctly and accurately; therefore,
the topic must be chosen carefully and sharply focused. Illustrative material
such as charts, graphs, or tables are welcomed and may be attached. These
added, supportive materials are not part of the four-page limit on text. These
materials should be an integral part of your article.
4. For a few
students, selected other materials may be helpful to the “editor” if
appended. These might include a newspaper article, political materials,
advertisements, or an entire scientific article.
Your grade on the paper will depend upon the
thoroughness of your research, your ability to handle the scientific
literature, the strength of the defense mounted for the article, and the
clarity of the writing.
Summary
Submit one original and one
copy by 2:00 pm, 21 May. Each should contain the cover letter-to-the-editor stating the importance
of the work and scientific references; a title page with the title, abstract
and key words; the 4-page article; and any appended figures, tables, and/or
documents. Put your name on the back of the last page of your article. The
original will be returned to the office of the Environmental Studies
Program (113 Steele Hall) during the final exam week.
INFORMATION RESOURCES
What is "Primary Scientific
Literature"?
- Primary sources: contain original data
and ideas and are generally the first published record of an investigation.
Examples include research articles, preprints, patents, dissertations, or
conference proceedings.
- Secondary sources: contain information
about primary sources, usually a compilation or synthesis of various ideas and
data and may rearrange or modify data. Examples include encyclopedias, review
articles, handbooks, bibliographies and abstracts/indexes.
- Tertiary sources: discuss science
rather than contribute to it or are indirect sources. Examples include
textbooks, directories, literature guides.
Locating Journals and Other Material at
Dartmouth
Books, journals, and other
materials in all the Dartmouth College libraries can be found by using the
Dartmouth Library Catalog.
Books are listed by author, title and subject. Other
materials are listed by title and general subject. Use the Keyword
search option when you don't have a particular book or journal in mind but
are looking for material on a topic. The catalog shows the call numbers and
library locations of items and also can display circulation
status.
Identifying Primary Scientific
Literature
The catalog does not list individual
journal and newspaper articles by author, title or subject.
To locate papers on a particular topic or by
a particular author, it is necessary to use an index that covers the
subject area. Several useful indexes are listed here.
-
PubMed
MEDLINE (1966-). MEDLINE is produced by the National Library of
Medicine and is widely recognized as the premier source for bibliographic and
abstract coverage of medical literature, containing records from more than
3,900 journals. MEDLINE is also available through Ovid
MEDLINE.
- Web of Science (1976- ).
About 3300 journals are indexed in science, medicine, agriculture, technology,
and behavioral science, plus many other fields in the social sciences and the
arts and humanities. In addition to being an index, Web of Science is a unique
data set through which research can be traced using citations from one article
to another.
- Lexis Nexis Environmental
includes Environmental Abstracts which indexes over 1,000 scientific,
technical, trade, professional, and general periodicals, plus conference papers
and proceedings, government documents, industry reports, newspapers, and
project reports. These publications cover such fields as management,
technology, planning, law, political science, economics, geology, biology, and
chemistry as they relate to environmental issues. Envirofiche has
many of the documents indexed in Environmental Abstracts and is located
in the Jones Media Center in Berry, Microfiche 358F.
- Ecology
Abstracts (1982-) summarizes and indexes significant findings in
ecology research. Ecology Abstracts focuses on how organisms of all kinds -
microbes, plants, and animals - interact with their environments and with other
organisms. Included are relevant papers on evolutionary biology, economics, and
systems analysis as they relate to ecosystems or the environment.
Tips for Finding Articles
Indexes are used to find
articles on specific subjects. Each index works slightly differently. Look for
online help screens to learn the index's search rules. Some indexes (like
MEDLINE) have subject headings with thesauruses and may provide mapping to lead
you to the correct terms to describe your topic. Other indexes (Web of Science) require keyword searching. For keyword searching, think about synonyms,
plurals, and various conjugations; learn how to truncate to look for root words
with multiple suffixes and to combine terms with operators like AND, OR, and
NOT.
Some of the indexes will include information on
Dartmouth's holdings, but many will not.
The Dartmouth Library Catalog is
the best place to find out whether a journal is available at
Dartmouth. The catalog will tell you which library has a journal,
which years are available, and whether an digital version is available to
Dartmouth users. If a digital version is available there will be a link. Most
Dartmouth libraries shelve print journals separately from books and in
alphabetical order; Baker/Berry Library shelves journals by call number. The
catalog will guide you.
How to Read a Scientific Paper
Scientific research articles - primary literature - tend to be
formatted in the same way. This format can help you to recognize that the article
is primary literature and to better understand the article. A summary of those
sections and how to read them is given in the online article How to read a Scientific Research Paper
, written by
Ann McNeal, a faculty member at Hampshire College. Note that one of her
recommendations is to look up terms you don't know in an appropriate dictionary.
There are several ecology and environmental sciences dictionaries in the reference
section of Dana Library. An online option for a combination encyclopedia/dictionary
is Access Science: Encyclopedia of Science and Technology.
Web Information Sources
While a great many primary source journals are
available via the web in digital format, most websites are secondary or
tertiary sources, with some exceptions. For instance, many U.S.
government and non-governmental organization documents that report on research
studies may be found published on the web. Websites can be useful for
this paper for choosing a topic or demonstrating that a topic is of
current interest.
Please be careful when using web information
sources. Remember that anyone can develop a web page; screen your choices
carefully! For some tips on evaluating and citing sites see Website
Evaluation and Citing or Thinking
Critically about World Wide Web Resources.
Useful websites for finding current news on
environmental health issues:
- National Library of
Medicine's Toxicology and Environmental Health Specialized Information
Services, http://www.sis.nlm.nih.gov/Tox/ToxMain.html
- Science Daily,
http://www.sciencedaily.com/
- Environmental News Network,
http://www.enn.com/
- ScienceNow, from Science Magazine,
http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/
- National Center for Environmental Health, http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/
- National Safety Council's Environmental
Health Center, http://www.nsc.org/ehc.htm
Help
Please feel free to ask for help and additional
resources.
E-mail
Biomedical
Libraries Reference or call 650-1660.
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