CSS 4100: The GMO Debate Science and Society (Spring 2010)   Tags: agriculture, course_guide, mann-course  

Albert R.
Mann Library
mann-ref@cornell.edu
(607) 255-5406

Mann Library supports the instruction, research, and extension programs of Cornell University's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and College of Human Ecology.

No matter where you are in the research process, we encourage you to ask for information consulting services. Email us your question or request a consultation. Reference librarians are here to assist.

By the end of this session you will be able to:

• Search a variety of resources (US government databases, patent resources, scholarly, peer-reviewed and trade articles, etc) in order to find information on five GMOs.
• Find statistics, standards and government policy information in order to get background information and data
• Compare information from various sources in order to evaluate the information you find

For general information about life sciences resources, see the Mann Library website.

You need to find quality information on the background, environmental, scientific, policy, public opinion and future issues with a particular GMO (such as Bt cotton). Where do you start?

Though you can use Google or Google Scholar, you'll probably find that separating the wheat from the chaff takes a lot of time. Web searches can be useful for finding governement and association information and the kinds of white papers and reports that are not published in the journal literature, but they do not comprehensively cover the published journal literature.

Think about what kind of materials you need

If you need to find background material or an overview of a topic. . .
Find books, reports and reference materials in the Library Catalog

If you need to find articles and opinion from popular magazines and newspapers or trade publications. . .
Search a general database like Proquest Research Library or LexisNexis

If you need to find scholarly, peer-reviewed articles. . .
Search a scholarly subject database like Web of Knowledge

If you need to find patent information. . .
Search a patent database like Google Patent or Micropatent

If you need policy reports and digests. . .
Look for material written by organizations like CRS (Congressional Research Reports-see Finding Statistics and Standards), and associations and think tanks (see Useful Web Resources but be careful of bias!)