Social Ecology PPD 4                                                                        Julia Gelfand

Introduction to Urban Studies                                                            Science Library 228

Spring 2008                                                                                        jgelfand@uci.edu, 949-824-4971

 

 

This handout will introduce you to library resources and services that will support the assignments you will have in this course.  It is to be consulted as a roadmap of support and is not intended to be exhaustive.  This course is highly interdisciplinary and will introduce you to the literatures of sociology, economics, political science, history, geography, urban & regional planning, environmental sciences, housing, population & demographics, poverty and focus on theory, history, and development of the American city.  There are three specific writing assignments you must complete and this handout will provide information and direction for each of them.

 

Background Information – most of the information resources noted herein are either electronic or located in print at the Langson Library (LL).  However, there may be some journals that are found at the Science Library (SL), especially in the subject areas of environment, sustainability and such topics.  Your point of departure for all your browsing and searching will be from the UCI Library Website and another valuable resource is the

Subject Guide for Planning, Policy & Development  which lists many appropriate resources.  Other relevant subject guides are available for:

Demographics and Social Analysis

Sociology

Political Science

Economics

US History

Government Information – for California; United States

 

Library Reserves:  the two required textbooks are available at the Langson Library Reserves at the Loan Desk – see via Antpac or the Library Website

 

Connecting from Off-Campus – make sure that you have installed your VPN client or are using WebVPN to authenticate yourself as a UCI affiliate in order to access licensed content

 

Finding Books – there are several options and you may want to search by keyword if you have not verified the Library of Congress Subject Headings – selective examples may include:

African Americans – Social conditions

Architects and community – United States

Blacks - Segregation

Built environment

Cities and Towns – United States – Growth - ….

City dwellers 

City planning – United States           

Communities

Community development, Urban

Developing countries – Economic conditions

Developing countries – Social conditions

Finance, Public

Globalization

Housing

Inner cities

Low incoming housing

Neighborhood – Social aspects – United States

Public housing

Public space

Regional planning

Sociology, Urban – United States

Suburbs – United States

Sustainable development

United States – Race relations

Urban ecology

Urban policy

Urban poor

Urbanization

                       

1.      Antpac – the online catalog for UCI which offers the most current information on the status of all library materials, in all formats

2.     Melvyl – the online catalog for all 10 UC campuses and the two storage facilities, the California State Library; the best way to request materials from other sites is to use the MELVYL Request function available with each item

3.     WorldCat – a worldwide inventory of library holdings where UCI’s holdings are identified

4.     Amazon.com – a commercial inventory of books currently in print – not necessary to buy or order anything but to verify specific topics or coverage or status of new releases, this database would be appropriate to consult

 

Finding Journal Articles – usually one consults a database or an indexing & abstracting tool that covers many journals from different publishers.  When searching a database, one should learn how it is arranged and if there are UC eLinks (golden icon) so that access to the fulltext is available based on the holdings at the UCI Libraries.  * denotes on the same search platform – you must select one and then click on “Additional Databases” and select the others.  Recommended databases include:

1.     Sociological Abstracts* - most comprehensive coverage of urban issues, planning, poor and issues covered in this course; includes an International Social Policy & Development component  

2.     PAIS International* (1977+) and Archive (1915-1976) – covers public administration and public policy – includes journal literature, books, book chapters, dissertations & theses and government documents

3.     Web of Science – most academic index containing largest number of journals that are indexed – composed of several databases; click on the Web of Science tab across the top and after you see & complete the search box, click to expand on “Current Limits” to refine your search by identifying the years of coverage you want to search and selecting Social Sciences Citation Index (1956+) by de-selecting the other two databases – this will make your output far more relevant

4.     Urban Studies and Planning Abstracts: A Sage Fulltext Collection* of 12 journals published by Sage

5.     Sage Urban Studies Abstracts (in print at LL REF HT 101 U75) – indexes more than just Sage publications

6.     Geobase – covers sustainability issues with a geography orientation; highly interdisciplinary; only one user at a time; no UC eLinks so must use Antpac to determine if we have material

7.     Environmental Sciences & Pollution Management* - more science and conservation based for subject coverage.

8.     Agricola – covers agriculture, rural societies and related issues – does not yet contain UC eLinks, thus you must use Antpac

9.     Population Index (1986-2000)

10.  Business Source Premier – increasingly fulltext database for business/management with more global coverage

11.  EconLit* - covers economics

12.  National Bureau of Economic Research Monograph Series and Working Papers – cataloged separately in ANTPAC but can be found as a series entry and searched by most current, etc as there are over 1300+ - or search the NBER website

13.  World Political Science Abstracts*

14.  Current Social Science Research Reports  - weekly demographic updates on social, health and economic indicators

15.  America: History & Life – covers US history, with a lot of emphasis on social history

16.  Academic Search Complete – increasingly fulltext database; use the “Find More Like This” feature on the right; remember to read the abstract to determine geographic reference & relevance; can go directly to the list of cited references for additional resources (at the top of the entry)

17.  Google Scholar – indexes journal literature, books and book chapters; output is relevancy based and does not reflect chronologies – has UC eLinks for journal literature only

18.  Opposing Viewpoints – has pro/con statements with strong bibliographic references and treatment of a subject; helpful for debate strategies

19.  Index to Current Urban Documents (ICUD) – this is a primary source database of local government documents that can be used as case studies

20.  Piper Resources to State & Local Documents on the Net

 

Recommended Reference Books (many now circulate and are not in REF (1st floor)

 

Handbook of Families and Poverty, 2008 – LL HC110.P6 H36 2008      

Encyclopedia of Housing, 1998 – LL REF HD7287 .E53 1998 and Housing Information Gateway (updates to book)

Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology

Encyclopedia of American Urban History, 2007 – LL  HT123 .E49 2007 

Encyclopedia of Urban America: The Cities and Suburbs, 1998 – LL REF HT123 .E5 1998

Handbook of Population, 2005 – LL  HB871 .H3447 2005    

International Encyclopedia of the Social &Behavioral Sciences

The City: A dictionary of quotable thoughts on cities and urban life, 1984 – LL Ref  HT111 .C576 1984      

 

Sources for Images and Graphics (remember that it is necessary to cite the source) – also, that the biggest myth is If a work is on the Internet, it is in the public domain and can be freely copied and distributed.  The internet may be a relatively new phenomena and developed long after U.S. copyright laws were enacted, but it is not exempt from copyright law.  Courts do not have any difficulty applying traditional copyright laws to web sites and the internet.  The owner of a copyright enjoys certain exclusive benefits, which include the rights to reproduce, distribute and display a work.  Without the consent of the owner of a copyright, it is copyright infringement to place the work on the internet or to download/copy it from the internet.  17 U.S.C. § 106; make sure that you use images & graphics in the public domain or say that you can download/copy them.

Google Images

Online Archive of California – contains over 120,000 images from a variety of CA institutions, archives, collections, museums, libraries, etc – highly recommended

ArchiveGrid – primary documents in Special Collections in Libraries & Museums around the world – more descriptive information than images but occasionally there are links

Photo Gallery of the IDRC (International Development Research Council, Canada)

Society of Environmental Graphic Design – check out the annual design awards

Snapistry – this is a fee-based source – be careful to not select items unless you are prepared to pay!

Books on graphics are also helpful.

 

Recommended Websites – just a few sources for you to become aware of as you search – you may want to click through some of these and see what they contain – a good source to find some think tanks, non-profits and professional societies is Associations Unlimited.

 

Cato Institute

Congress for New Urbanism

New Urbanism

New Urban News

American Planning Association

APA – New Urbanism Division

Latino New Urbanism

Global Distribution of Poverty

Lincoln Institute of Land Policy

Links for Planners from Cornell University

UN Millennium Goals –

US Agency for International Development

World Bank

Save the Children

Oxfam International

International Red Cross

 

Hints for Specific Assignments – read the Assignments carefully before starting – these can be characterized as opinion pieces, essays, position statements, and do not require formal bibliographic citation unless you quote something specifically, but you must list your three major sources consulted for each paper, and you should make sure that you use a consistent citation format.  Information about those options is available at http://www.lib.uci.edu/online/subject/subpage.php?subject=ref_writing   The conclusion of each assignment must include a summary paragraph that includes a course of action and prediction of how this issue will play out in the future – remember to define how far out in the future you are referencing.  For short essays, it is particularly helpful to write from an outline, to make sure that you cover all your points and that the conclusion substantiates your thesis statement in the beginning.  Define your terms so reader knows context.  Support with case studies.

 

Assignment #1- New urbanism in the future?  All databases will contain content on this – by searching the concept “new urbanism AND something else” you will refine your search; in the CSA; case studies will be available in ICUD and by searching Piper

 

Assignment #2 – To what extent are American cities segregated?  In order to find out the extent of disparities by race, gender, culture, you may want to conduct a search in American Factfinder in a certain region or location and also consult some of the sources recommended on the Assignment page

 

Assignment #3 – Reducing extreme poverty in megacities of developing world – in addition to the sources listed, consult Source OECD for materials from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development; also International Development Abstracts in print through 2005 at

LL Ref HC 10 I573.

 

For additional assistance, please contact Liaison Librarian or use Ask-a-Librarian services for reference assistance, research consultation by either eMail, Chat, or appointment, or come to either the LL or SL Reference Desks.