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Environmental Resources

A guide to environmental resources available through the NJ State Library and on the web.

EBSCO Discovery Service

Search content across multiple databases and formats using EBSCO Discovery Service, including electronic resources and the library catalog. Can be used to find articles.

Search for books, articles, government documents

Use the Advanced Search option to select different fields, combine search terms and apply filters such as format, published date range, and collection.

Databases for Environmental Research

Search databases to discover scholarly content and gain access to full-text articles and research from peer-reviewed journals, government reports, trade publications, popular magazines and more.

Online databases offered by the library can be accessed from anywhere by NJ State Employees, Thomas Edison State University students and faculty and authorized users. A library card is needed to access subscription databases off-site.

Keywords and Search Terms

"Climate change" or "global warming"?

"Sewage" or "Wastewater?"

Language is messy and constantly evolving! Using outdated or inaccurate terminology, or simply failing to search with the most commonly-used keywords can cause you to miss publications.

Specialized glossaries and thesauruses can help you translate concepts into searchable keywords. Many databases have their own searchable thesauruses or "controlled vocabularies" that can help you discover keywords you didn't think of in advance.

Additionally, the website Credo Reference allows you to type in search terms and see a "Mind Map" of concepts related to your keyword.

Other online glossaries and resources:

Encyclopedias and dictionaries provide definitions and general overviews of topics and often make good starting points for your research:

Databases for Chemical Information

Other Databases

Other potentially useful databases:

  • Business, and economic databases such as ProQuest's ABI/INFORM CollectionBusiness Source Premier, or Hoovers Online for company research.
  • Legal databases such as HeinOnline and Lexis Advance
  • Newspaper databases for current and historical news articles such as NewsBank, The New York Times, or ProQuest Historical Newspapers.
  • Databases with public policy information such as CQ Researcher, Political Science Database and Public Health Database.
  • Social science or interdisciplinary databases like OmniFile Full Text Select and Social Science Database.
  • Engineering databases like Civil Engineering Database and TRID - the largest online bibliographic database of transportation research.  

Find these and others at the State Library's full A-Z List of Databases.

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