English 202C: Technical Writing
Internet Resource Guide
A Collection of Online Resources
for Penn State Ecology Majors
Brady Boyer
2/5/2015
Table of Contents
Preface…………………………………………………………………………………………………….3
Internet Resource Guide
Technical Databases
Web of Science: Biological Abstracts……………………………………4
Scholarly Journals
Ecological Society of America………………………………………………5
Government Resources
Catalog of U.S. Government Publications………………………………6
Statistical Abstract of the United States………………………………...7
Professional Internet Sites
ECOLOG………………………………………………………………………………8
United States Environmental Protection Agency…………………...9
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service………………………………………………10
Google Earth………………………………………………………………………11
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Preface
Contents:
This guide contains invaluable resources required by ecology majors
to succeed both during and after school. Many of these resources are
used by professors here at Penn State and may sometimes be
necessary in order to accomplish certain goals. There are a few
sources that will help with finding work immediately after college.
This guide contains technical databases, scholarly journals,
government resources, and other professional internet sites.
Audience:
This internet resource guide is mainly aimed towards helping junior
and senior ecology majors. Some of the material in the resources
provided within will contain technical information that may be above
the comprehension of underclassmen. Many of these resources will be
mandatory for any BIO 4XX class, as well as any primary research that
you may pursue.
Assumptions: This guide was created under the assumption that the readers will
have a basic understanding of ecological sciences and their
applications. It is also assumed that the reader will be able to navigate
the internet with relative ease and that the reader will have access to
Penn State internet services. A few of these sites contain journal
articles that are normally hidden behind pay walls. A PSU internet
connection is required in order to view these sources for free. If you
are off campus, you will need to use a VPN client to sign in.
Organization: This internet resource guide provides information about eight
different sources under four different categories: technical databases,
scholarly journals, government resources, and professional internet
sites. Each entry first gives the title followed by the location, or URL,
of the resource. A description follows with information on why the
source is useful as well as some information on what the source
contains. Finally, there are tips for each source that will answer some
possible questions that a new user may have.
Tips:
Readers can use the table of contents and the headings to easily find
the resources they want to learn about. It will be important that the
reader has access to Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and Adobe
Reader to be able to read some of the files that these resources
provide.
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Internet Resource Guide
Technical Databases
Web of Science: Biological Abstracts
Location:
This service is available online for free to all Penn State students and
faculty by going to libraries.psu.edu and searching Web of Science in
the Databases section. Once on the Web of Science page, you can
change the search from Web of Science Core Collection to Biological
Abstracts.
Description: Created and maintained by Thomson Reuters, Web of Science:
Biological Abstracts acts as a search engine allowing one to find
journal articles of interest within the field of biology from 1926 to the
present. This is a very reliable source of information with articles that
have been peer reviewed by other scientists. One can search for
particular scientific literature by topic, title, author, editor, year
published, and more. The database will likely give thousands of
results if a topic is searched, so it is advisable to refine the search from
the left panel by limiting the search to major concepts, publication
years, authors, concept codes, supertaxa, countries, languages or
other information.
Tips:
1. Since most searches will return thousands of results it is advisable
to use the refine options on the left panel.
2. To read an article for free, use the Get it! At Penn State button located
underneath the abstract.
3. Sources that have been cited more are usually better. Look to the right
of the abstract to see how many people have cited the source.
4. At the home page one can click on add another field to make the
search look for [topic] and/or/not [topic]. This will refine your
results.
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Internet Resource Guide
Scholarly Journals
Ecological Society of America
Location:
www.esa.org/esa/
Description: The Ecological Society of America is an organization that publishes a
few very important journals including Ecosphere, Ecology, Ecological
Monographs, Ecological Applications, Frontiers in Ecology and the
Environment, and the Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America. The
ESA has been publishing since 1915 and its journal Ecology is the
leading international journal in its field, publishing articles that report
and interpret the results of original scientific research in basic and
applied ecology. This journal is obviously extremely relevant to
ecology majors and houses a wealth of cutting edge research and
discoveries within the field. To view these articles from the ESA home
page just scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the image of the
journal cover under Journals and Publications.
Tips:
1. For full access to all of the archived journal articles one may need the
assistance of the Penn State libraries.
2. Journals are listed in reverse chronological order of when they were
published; however one can search for a specific article in the top
right of the page.
3. It is advisable to click on the PDF link rather than the Full Text link
because the PDFs are much easier to read and have their figures in
place.
4. If one were researching a specific topic, Web of Science would be
more appropriate. Using this website to view this journal is better for
finding brand new information in the field of ecology.
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Internet Resource Guide
Government Resources
Catalog of U.S. Government Publications
Location:
http://catalog.gpo.gov/F/?func=find-d-0&local_base=GPO01PUB
&clear_level=2
Description: The Catalog of U.S. Government Publications is the best resource
available for anyone looking to find specific documents created by the
government. One can find documents from the Environmental
Protection Agency, the Department of Environmental Protection, or
the U.S. House of Representatives as well as many others. For the
ecology major, this resource is loaded with real-world problems that
involve human-environment interactions. For example, if you wanted
to know about Marcellus shale, you can access geological surveys and
U.S. Senate committee meeting minutes. There is a particular
geological survey titled Water Resources and Natural Gas Production
from the Marcellus Shale by D.J. Soeder. In order to access this
document, first search Marcellus shale and then click on the title of
the document. This link will provide a list of information on the
resource including a hyperlink to a PDF of the document.
Tips:
1. Just like Web of Science, simple searches will return thousands of
results. You need to be somewhat specific in order to make searching
easier.
2. If there is a specific document that you are looking for the home page
has an advanced search below the simple search that will allow you to
enter all necessary information.
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Internet Resource Guide
Government Resources
Statistical Abstract of the United States
Location:
http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/
Description: Created and maintained by the U.S. Census Bureau, the Statistical
Abstract of the United States provides all of the data collected from
the U.S. Censuses going back to the 1980s. This website provides
statistical data on the social, political, and economic organization of
the United States. Being an ecology major, you may eventually need to
know the population changes of Pennsylvania. In order to find this
information go to the left side panels and hover over the one labeled
population, and then click on ‘Estimates and Projections—States,
Metropolitan Areas, Cities.’ This will take you to a page with a list of
hyperlinks. Click on the PDF file for ‘State Population—Rank,
Percentage Change, And Population Density.’ This information can be
used for research or other purposes.
Tips:
1. The PDF files will probably be easier to read than the Excel files,
although this is personal preference.
2. The appendices of the PDF files have bibliographic information.
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Internet Resource Guide
Professional Internet Sites
ECOLOG
Location:
https://listserv.umd.edu/archives/ecolog-l.html
Description: ECOLOG is a listserv dedicated to providing job listings and open
graduate and Ph.D. student positions, as well as internship
opportunities that relate to the ecological field. Most of the job and
internship listings come from universities looking for anything from
full-time professors and researchers to lab and field technicians. If you
are a senior ecology major and you are looking for a job or want to get
into graduate school this listserv can be extremely helpful. The listings
are posted in reverse chronological order and even though it may not
look pretty many people throughout the country use it.
Tips:
1. Click on a date to see what listings there are from that week. Scroll
down through the table of contents to see titles and contact
information for each position.
2. Click on the title of a position to see the description that the poster
created.
3. There is a search the archives link at the top of the home page to
search for specific job listings.
4. Do not sign up for a list, the site will bombard you with emails.
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Internet Resource Guide
Professional Internet Sites
United States Environmental Protection Agency
Location:
http://www.epa.gov
Description: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is in charge of policy
making in regards to environmental protection for the nations
resources. Although the agency has been captured by industries it is
still a reliable source for information on any regulations and
standards that you may need to know. Their website is heavily geared
towards the general public, so you can use this site as an example of
how to discuss ecology with non-science majors. To find a policy or
standard go to the link at the top of the page called Laws and
Regulations. The link will bring a pull down menu of different ways to
search for laws. The site filters through the links by having you go
through a series of pages. Eventually, it will lead you to what you’re
looking for.
Tips:
1. This site will be useful for laws and regulations but I would advise not
to rely on it for scientific information.
2. The sort of scientific information this site gives will truly show how
best to communicate complicated ideas with people that don’t fully
understand or people who don’t have the desire to learn.
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Internet Resource Guide
Professional Internet Sites
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Location:
http://www.fws.gov
Description: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is tasked with the duty of actively
protecting and restoring ecologically important areas throughout the
country. This website provides a little bit of scientific information,
however it is mainly targeted towards explaining what is being done
in the field. It is also a great way to inquire about any potential job
openings. Let’s say that you want to find an office near Penn State and
contact them. First, scroll down to the large map of the U.S. and click
on Pennsylvania. The hyperlink will take you to a page with a list of all
the FWS offices in PA. If you wanted to contact one particular station,
click on its name and the site will show you their station type, contact
information and mailing address.
Tips:
1. While this site is not as focused on education, it is quite like the EPA
website in that it provides very little scientific information. Most likely
this site will be used to see what the government is doing to fix a
number of problems.
2. You could search a topic from the home page, however it would be
better to click on one of the subject headings at the top of the page and
then search within that topic to lessen search results.
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Internet Resource Guide
Professional Internet Sites
Google Earth
Location:
https://www.google.com/earth/ (This must be downloaded.)
Description: Google Earth is a well-known application used by many different
people casually and it may seem strange to have it listed, however it is
extremely useful. As you probably know, Google Earth is a three
dimensional map of the entire Earth (as well as the Moon and Mars).
This site has proven to be extremely useful when planning trips to
conduct primary research. The site can allow you to see the layout of
an area a little bit before you go there yourself. It is also possible to
have Excel randomly generate sampling sites for you because Google
Earth provides GPS coordinates for all locations. Locations can be
easily searched with the search bar and the map can be moved around
with the mouse cursor.
Tips:
1. It is possible to measure the distance between potential sampling
sites by going to the top of the screen and clicking Show Ruler.
2. You can choose coordinates from Google Earth for sampling sites and
enter those coordinates into a GPS so that you have them ready before
you even leave.
3. Google Earth can help you determine if a site is appropriate based on
the level of forest fragmentation that surrounds the site. GIS can make
this easier as well.
4. You can always go back to a simple map view by going to the top and
clicking View in Google Maps.
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