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Albert S. Cook Library

TSEM 102: Climate & Society (RJ Neff)

Cycles of Published Knowledge: "The sooner you start, the longer it's going to take!"

Building Up Knowledge

Research Emerges in a Climbing Cycle:

  • Primary Sources - Artifacts, documents, or results;
  • Secondary Sources - Articles, chapters, or books;
  • Tertiary Sources - Reference or subject encyclopedias;
  • Popular Sources - Rough introductions to what topics exist;

Students new to a topic benefit from skiing downward:

  • Popular | Reference | Articles, Books | Primary sources.

Finding Information: "No one big wire"

There is a wide variety of information on climate change available through the Cook Library and the world wide web. Different types of resources will contain different types of information. For example, an encyclopedia might outline a topic with definitions and key concepts, whereas an academic journal may contain original research on a specific aspect or subtopic of climate change. Use this guide to help locate information from these different source types.