The Environmental Studies department generally recommends using APA style.
Most formatting issues are addressed in this quick guide from University of Alberta Library. For a deeper dive, consult Purdue OWL APA Formatting and Style Guide (7th ed).
Alternatively, visit the Research Help Desk to consult our physical copy of the APA Guide:
Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association by To help with formatting citations, you may find tools like Zotero useful. Ask a librarian for a quick tour of what these tools can do. You will definitely love using them by the time you write longer papers like your capstone or thesis!
For more information about citation styles and citation management software see the citation guide.
The Purdue OWL guide has more information on how in-text citations should look. There are great examples of how to properly format a journal article on the guide as well! You may also view a sample paper to look at formatting and more examples of in text citations and reference list citations.
The library research instruction for this course is "flipped."
The tutorial will remain available all semester so you can review it as needed.
As you begin to learn about a new environmental issue, it is helpful to read an overview and identify various viewpoints on that issue. Try these research tools at the beginning of your research. Remember, they are not peer-reviewed - but they provide valuable context that will help you understand the peer-reviewed journal articles you also use to write this paper.
The New York Times is another quality source of background information (just remember, it's not a peer-reviewed journal).
Use built-in features to filter out noise. You can limit by:
Use quotation marks to search phrases ("air pollution"), and asterisks to truncate words (environment*).
Use the Cite button to get an auto-generated citation. APA 6th edition is an option, but you still need to proofread.
ProQuest Central is a large, multi-disciplinary database with lots of great content. You will get more results, but it can include non-relevant results and require more refining of search terms and filters. If the number of results feels overwhelming, try Environment Complete!
Environment Complete is a smaller database, focused on environmental issues. If you are getting too few results, try changing your search terms or filters, or try Proquest Central!
If you're ever stuck, stop by the Research Help Desk or email Hannah (tkrauss@gettysburg.edu)!
If the library doesn't have an item you want, you can request to borrow a copy from another library via our interlibrary loan service.
Articles (PDF) usually arrive within 24 hours. Books may take 4-7 days. A book chapter (PDF) may arrive in 1-2 days.
For articles, use the Gett It button in databases to see if we have access. If not, you will see an option to sign into Muscat Plus and submit your request.
For books and book chapters, search Muscat Plus. If you don't see what you want, click "search other libraries" and then submit your request with the "request from other libraries" link on the results page. Or, you can use the interlibrary loan form at the top of Muscat Plus.
These short tutorials may be helpful!