LibGuides: Writing 101: Biophilic Cities: Course-Specific Resources

Scholarly Databases

Scopus This link opens in a new window
Search peer-reviewed literature, including scientific journals, books and conference proceedings.
Web of Science This link opens in a new window
A huge, multidisciplinary database of journal articles and other scholarly publications. You'll have to be precise with your keywords here. It includes citation networks, links to cited and citing publications.
Environment Complete This link opens in a new window
Searches journal articles and some other sources in the areas of ecology, agriculture, energy, and more.
Political Science Complete This link opens in a new window
Searches journal articles and some other sources in the areas of political science and public policy.
PAIS Index This link opens in a new window
Searches scholarly articles, government documents and reports, and more, related to politics and public policy. International in scope.
Google Scholar This link opens in a new window
Google searching scoped for scholarly sources. Results can be more messy than the other databases mentioned above. This link will take you through the Duke Libraries proxy server, to assist with full text access to subscription resources you may find here.

Other Resources

Biophilic Cities
Biophilic Cities facilitates a global network of partner cities working collectively to pursue the vision of a natureful city within their unique and diverse environments and cultures.
Collaborative Architecture, Urbanism, and Sustainability Web Archive
An open access database whose aim is to preserve websites devoted to the related topics of architecture, urban fabric, community development activism, public space, and sustainability.
Art & Architecture Source
Includes magazine and journal articles, book reviews, and conference proceedings in art and architecture
PsycInfo
Search for journal articles, book chapters, books, and technical reports in the field of psychology
EnviroAtlas
Offers dynamic method of searching and viewing environmental information. Site can be searched by clicking on expandable map images or selecting particular criteria such as state, county, city, zip code, address, facility, watershed, EPA region, watershed, or lattitude and longitude, Includes links to full reports as well as environmental statistics, profiles and trends
Social Explorer
Social Explorer is an online research tool designed to provide quick and easy access to current and historical census data and demographic information.
U.S. Census
Find population and economic data on the national, state, county or tract level.
National Audubon Society
Learn about bird-related topics, including research studies on habitats, conservation and climate change.
Location-Specific Environmental Information
From the Environmental Protection agency
NC County Profiles
Run reports from the Department of Commerce's AccessNC database for each county. Reports include demographics, commuting, education, housing, income, employment, quality of life, and business information.
Municode
Find information on a city or town, including ordinances regarding local utilities, taxes, zoning, education, emergency services, public safety, and business regulations

Background Sources

Much of your topic idea generation and background searching may come from smart and persistent use of Google, but you should also consider some of the library sources below.

NexisUni: a huge database of news sources! You can scope results by date, location, and more. Go ahead and use the "Search in all News" field to begin a topic search.
Reference sources, like Encyclopedia of Environment and Society, an online encyclopedia with entries on Urban Ecology, Sustainable Cities, and more.
You might also get ideas by browsing article titles in journals like Journal of Urban Ecology or Urban Ecosystems.
And don't forget to check the library catalog for books. You can do open-ended keyword searches (like this one for "biophilic") or controlled subject heading searches (like this one for "urban animals").
You might also look for government reports and other reputable but "non-scholarly" sources (often called "grey literature) using some of these tips.