Research Guides: Environmental Analysis: Articles & Primary Literature

Primary Sources

In the sciences, a primary source describes original research, while a secondary source analyzes or comments on a primary source or sources. For example, a research article is primary literature because it describes an original experiment and its results, while a review article is secondary literature because it collates multiple research articles to describe the current state of the field.

Examples of primary sources:

Research articles
Theses and dissertations
Conference proceedings
Reports
Patents
Unrefined data sets

Recommended Databases

AGRICOLA This link opens in a new window
USDA National Library of Agriculture database. Citations for articles on every major agricultural topic, 1970-present. Also includes some life sciences and applied biology topics.
Dissertations & Theses Global This link opens in a new window
Dissertations and theses from 1861 - present from US, UK and Irish academic institutions. Many are full text.
GeoRef This link opens in a new window
Scholarly citations for all the literature in geology from the American GeoSciences Institute.
GreenFILE This link opens in a new window
Scholarly articles, general interest titles, government documents, and reports cover Environmental Sciences. Some full-text articles available.
JSTOR Global Plants This link opens in a new window
Useful for historical and current primary and reference sources relating to botany, ecology, and conservation studies. Includes digitized plant specimen, diaries, correspondence, illustrations, paintings, photographs, and e-books.

Native Plants of North America
Comprehensive database where you can search for native plant records by traits, names, or images.
USDA PLANTS database
Good place to find standardized information about the vascular plants, mosses, liverworts, hornworts, and lichens of the U.S. and its territories.

Web of Science This link opens in a new window
Citations covering high-impact (heavily cited) journals in the sciences (1900-present), social sciences (1956-present), and arts and humanities (1997-present).
Western Water Archives This link opens in a new window
The Western Water Archives (WWA) offers digital primary sources from the water archives of 7 partner institutions; the bulk of which focus on Southern California and include blueprints, correspondence, ephemera, ledgers, legal papers, maps, pamphlets, photographs, plans, reports, scrapbooks, and technical documents.

Data & Case Studies

CalEnviroScreen
Developed by CalEPA in 2013 to help identify California communities most affected by multiple pollution sources and where people have increased potential to be more susceptible to pollution’s effects.
CDC National Environmental Public Health Tracking Network
Integrates EJ data from national-, state-, and city-level sources to provide county-level statistics and infographics for key EJ issues. The network provides a data mapping tool so users can compare and contrast different EJ indicators between states, and it offers supporting information to make the data easier to understand.
Earth Justice Annual reports
Non-profit public interest law firm dedicated to protecting the magnificent places, natural resources, and wildlife of this earth, and to defending the right of all people to a healthy environment.
EJScreen: EPA Environmental Justice Map
Use to help identify areas across the U.S. with high pollutions burdens and vulnerable populations. Mapping tool from the EPA with national environmental and demographic indicators in maps and reports. Includes air, toxins, waste, water, and superfund sites.
Environmental Defense Fund
Publications include news, reports, testimony, factsheets, educational materials, letters, newsletters and a complete catalog of publications relating to climate, energy, ecosystems, oceans and health.
Environmental Justice Case Studies
As part each students' coursework in Environmental Justice: Domestic and International, case studies were written on various grassroots struggles for environmental justice in the United States and all over the world. Students were asked to locate and research a struggle in environmental justice. As a part of that assignment, they were expected to ask a grassroots organization involved in or having some familiarity with the struggle for reccomendations on how to improve or resolve the struggle. This assignment was an opportunity for students to apply the principles they have learned in the classroom to actual struggles. Only the best case studies were selected to be placed on this resource center. Courtesy of the University of Michigan
Tracking California
Tracking California aims to improve public health by making science-based information on health trends, environmental threats, and the complex relationships between them publicly available and accessible to government, research, and community stakeholders. Users can view data and statistics for different environmental health exposures over a number of years. Topics include, air quality, childhood poisoning, COVID-19, pesticides, water quality and more.