RSNR 110 Food security
- Getting started
- Finding background information
- Finding journal articles
- Other search tools
- Are my journal articles refereed?
- Reference list
- Need some help?
Getting started
Analyze the question and pick out relevant keywords which you will use in your search for information.
Some obvious keywords:
food security, biofuel, food supply
You will uncover other keywords as you continue your research:
second-generation biofuels, cellulosic biomass, "food vs fuel", sustainable biofuel
Some databases will also allow you to add a wildcard (often * or !) at the end of words so you can find different versions of the same word. For example, biofuel* finds biofuel and biofuels.
You are asked to include 4 refereed journal articles in your essay, other than those provided on the RSNR online unit.
Finding background information
Firstly, check the RSNR 110 online unit for any key articles.
Like watching videos? There are quite a few on this topic.
Consider WHO has produced the clip and ask yourself: do they have a vested interest in biofuel production?
Here are just 2 giving different perspectives on the food vs fuel debate. There are many others on YouTube.
Will corn crop meet demand of both food and fuel?
To locate e-books on this topic go to the Library catalogue and run a Keyword Search.
Enter biofuel* AND electronic resource. (The * is a truncation symbol and will find biofuel/biofuels).
To open an e-book click on the URL and enter your UNE username and password.
Wikipedia can provide background information on food security and food vs fuel but remember this information is unreferred and not considered suitable to cite in your essay.
The references listed at the end of the items however, can lead you on to more reputable links and articles.
Finding journal articles
Journal articles provide recent, scholarly research on your topic.
Databases allow you to search across hundreds of journal titles online and often give you access to the full text of the journal article. You will need your UNE username and password to access the Library databases.
Tip: enclose your keywords in quotation marks to search for a particular phrase, eg "food security".
The Research Guide for Environmental Science lists key databases.
ProQuest
In the Advanced Search enter "food security" in the first box searching in Citation and Abstract.
Enter biofuel* in the second search box searching in Citation and Abstract.
Tick the boxes Full text documents only and Scholarly journals including peer-reviewed.
Try other search terms:
"food vs fuel"
sustainable biofuel*
second generation biofuel*
To read an article in full-text, click on the pdf link.
Wiley InterScience
To find relevant articles:
Enter "food security" in Full text/Abstract AND biofuel* in Full text/Abstract
Tick the Product Type - Journals
Select the Date Range - 2005-2010
Click Go.
To read an article in full click on the pdf link. Try other searches - "second-generation biofuel*"/"sustainable biofuel*"
Other databases which you can try include ScienceDirect, Engineering Village, Gale and Taylor & Francis. Use your keywords and experiment with the different interfaces.
Other search tools
Authormapper identifies scientific research areas around the world and links through to journal articles published by Springer. These are all peer reviewed journal articles.
Run a search: "food security" AND biofuel*
Click on Map it and then look at the search results, click on the Download PDF to read the articles.
GoogleScholar quickly finds relevant journal articles.
If you go to Google Scholar using the link on the Library page, you will be able to access the widest range of full-text articles.
Once you have run your search, you will be presented with a list of matching journal articles. The easiest way of accessing the full-text of an article is to simply click on the article title. Other options are to click on the Fulltext@UNE or the Findit@UNE links.
Are my journal articles refereed?
To check if the journals you have taken your articles from are peer reviewed, use the Ulrichsweb database.
You can find this database from the Library page. Select Journal articles & databases >Databases by name>Ulrichsweb.
Locate the Journal title in your citation. For example, if the article you are using is
Piesse, J. & Thirtle, C. 2009, Three bubbles and a panic: An explanatory review of recent food commodity price events, Food Policy, Vol. 34 pp119-129.
The journal title in this case is Food Policy.
Enter the journal title into the search box Title (Exact) and look for the icon which indicates whether the journal is peer reviewed.
Reference list
Use the UNE Referencing Guide to help you correctly list your references.
Need some help?
Ask a Librarian - an email service to help you out.
eSKILLS UNE - an online Library tutorial to get you started on your assignment.
Lisa Gurney - Liaison Librarian (Science & Technology, Environmental & Rural Science)
6773 2209 or lgurney2@une.edu.au
Service Desk in Dixson Library - 6773 2458