Global Environmental Change : Background Information
Get to Know Your Topic - Background Information
Before you start searching for sources, you need to know the nuts and bolts of your topic. Background information will help you:
- Understand the basic elements of your topic
- Narrow and focus your research question
- Determine relevant keywords and search terms
- Plan your research
Background research can take many forms, such as general googling or reading a wikipedia article. However, subject encyclopedias are trustworthy, academic sources written by experts on the subject. Subject encyclopedia entries, or articles, also include a list of references, or further reading on the subject, that you can also use for your research.
Search subject encyclopedias at Portland State University Library
Find Background Information
This 3 minute video explains how to find background information at the Portland State University Library.
Subject Encyclopedias
Scholarly subject encyclopedias provide background information about specific topics. Entries or articles, written by scholars or subject experts, include bibliographies or suggested readings that will lead to more information on your topic.
You can use subject encyclopedias to identify keywords for your research.
Suggested Encyclopedias
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Encyclopedia of Global Warming and Climate Change
This encyclopedia provides an historical overview and framework of this topic and serves as a general resource for geography, oceanography, biology, climatology, history, and many other subjects. -
Encyclopedia of Environment and Society
Contains entries by environmental topic and by country -
Encyclopedia of Global Change
Published in 2001, treat this information as an historical look at issues including earth and earth systems, human factors, resources, responses to global change agreements and associations, altered ecosystems, climate change, food and water supply, population, politics and global change, institutions and policies, biographies, and case studies. investigate all types of phenomena that change life on Earth, including tsunamis, elephant conservation, ocean pollution, mining regulation, and permafrost melt.
