FW ECOL 515: Natural Resources Policy (Fall 2025) : Your Questions, Answered

Hello Everyone! Thank you, again, for completing our pre-visit survey. What follows, below, are your questions, should they be useful to everyone (your names removed), and our answers to those questions as we have understood them. Ideally, we would look to pursue follow-up questions with you directly to best understand the full context and extent of the question. If we have not answered your questions sufficiently with this page, please let us know. Looking ahead, you can also use our "Ask-a-Librarian" services.

If you have a topic with a lot of information and sources around it, is there an easier way to distill down some of this information?
Answer: While ideally we would look to confer with you about such a topic in order to make the best recommendations, we might suggest a few techniques, here, if looking for an approachable overview to a complex topic. One technique may be to search the online catalog for a book or e-book that would provide comprehensive treatment of a topic with chapter-level detail. We also find popular magazines and news articles to be helpful for providing discussion and a synthesis of issues, and so too, Wikipedia, upon occasion. Additionally, and among the resources to which our library subscribes, are the CQ Researcher and Opposing Viewpoints, both tackling contemporary issues and current events.

There is a wide array of databases with an almost incomprehensible number of sources, how do you even begin to tackle finding sources for a research project?
Answer: We certainly recognize that the vast selection of databases can seem overwhelming. In order to help library users, our staff organize the databases to which we subscribe by subject and type from the libraries Website. By visiting the database menu by subject and selecting subjects inclusive of your research topic, you will have a more manageable set of finding tools with which to begin a search. In our role as librarians, we are available to consult with you individually and to assist you with making those selections and generating a productive search for information. 

How do you know which recommendations are best?
Answer: Your question is one that, ideally, we would seek additional clarification from you in order to provide our best answer, but, would you be asking about how we, as librarians, make our recommendations about the sources to use for finding information? One approach is to consider the tools for the task. Do you need books for background information and more comprehensive treatment about a subject or topic? Do you need journal articles testing and building evidence through their data about a specific focus of research interest? Do you need statistics? Do you need articles from popular magazines or newspapers that digest an issue and/or describe public opinion or experience? For all of these types of information, there are uniquely-crafted finding aids to which our library staff evaluate and subscribe on behalf of library users. In the interest of efficiency and effectiveness, we generally suggest that our students and staff use more than one tool for finding information and to select these tools from the Libraries’ site.

When is using EBSCO Host insufficient? 
Answer: EBSCO is just one of the vendors to which our library secures access to many databases, both multidisciplinary and subject-specific. If by asking whether “insufficient", we might presume that your acquaintance with an EBSCO database may be Academic Search which, for many students, is one of the first databases they use to find articles from both popular magazines and scholarly journals. (Many high schools and public libraries also subscribe to EBSCO databases). As every database, regardless of vendor platform, gives you searchable access to its own curated selection of content, be it from journals, magazines, newspapers (and more), we always advise searching more than one database in order to find the best selection of information on a research topic.

In this particular class, you may want to use databases that help you find specific kinds of government publications (regulations, Congressional materials, laws). EbscoHost provides databases on a lot of topics (UW-Madison library databases from Ebsco), but not ones that specialize in certain kinds of government documents. 

I spend a lot of time searching for scientific articles on Google Scholar and get blocked by paywalls. What's the best way to search scientific journals without paywalls? Is it best to browse through the library resources?
Answer: In order to break-through the paywalls you encounter while using Google Scholar, we suggest selecting Google Scholar from our libraries’ “Top 10” database menu or by saving your Google Scholar “library links” setting to our campus library system (search for UW-Madison). We provide instructions on your course support guide; see the box for “Using Google Scholar”. Taking either of these approaches will facilitate more full article availability through our network, seeing our subscription access. In the interest, too, of efficiently finding research articles, we do recommend searching a subject-specific database. 

Are there any info sessions on citation managers and how to use them? I would really like to learn how to use one.
Answer: Our library staff do occasionally offer workshops about using the citation managers. Information about forthcoming workshops are linked from the library Website and the campus events calendar (but there is not a citation managers workshop this semester). More immediately, we can recommend contacting one of our librarian consultants for assistance with these tools.

If it's your first time looking up policies for a certain topic, where's a good place to start?
Answer: We might recommend looking for some popular press (news) treatment about the topic or issue either by running a Google Web search and filtering to News coverage or by searching one of the library and course guide-linked news media databases including E&E News. We also like using the Congressional Research Service (CRS) reports, provided one has been written about the topic, for a readable history of the law and rule-making process. We link to the CRS and a finding aid to these publications from your course guide.

How might I find a layman explanation of complicated laws or regulations?
Answer: Similarly to the guidance we offer for getting acquainted with policies about particular topics, we suggest looking for popular press (news) treatment about the laws and/or regulatory actions by either by running a Google Web search and filtering to News coverage or by searching one of the library and course guide-linked news media databases, including E&E News. You may also find using the Congressional Research Service (CRS) reports helpful, provided one has been written about the topic, toward understanding the history of the laws and rule-making process for that topic.We link to the CRS and a finding aid to these publications from your course guide.

Don’t forget to look at the news sources with a critical eye. See this Evaluating Sources Basics tip sheet for things you should consider.  

How do you ensure the sources you're using are the best available and not just sponsored?
Answer: Good question, especially when working through the retrieval generated by an open Web search in which sponsorship could be a factor contributing to the order or ranking of results. The challenge, then, is to pause and to lend your critical eye to those sources that you may wish to consider. Our libraries supply text and video-clip tutorials about variables to consider when evaluating information for credibility, reliability, and value. (You will find these resources linked from your course guide, too). We often find it especially helpful to fact-check resources by engaging in some lateral reading (checking the information contained within a source or source site by running another, separate search). Author John Green with Crash Course also has a video on lateral reading that is both fun and insightful. 

If I am looking for help on how to write professionally (specifically in terms of policy) and on how to find suitable sources for citation, who should I go to for help?
Answer: We always advise beginning with your faculty and you will have the opportunity in your course to practice writing for these audiences engaged in policy-making. As we know that writing can be challenging, we also recommend consulting with the staff from UW-Madison’s Writing Center. Their Writers’ Handbook supplies tips on academic and professional writing and information about citing sources using any of several styles. Our course support guide also links to resources for citing government publications. 

What is the best way to compile all the legislation that could support something I want to do in a policy brief? Like if I want to conserve X piece of land and want to know which laws and regulations will support that.
Answer: Compiling all the legislation that could support something in a policy brief is a big, big project. It’s so large partly because there could be useful laws and regulations from multiple levels of government–federal, state, and local (which could include city and county). Also, in one particular kind of government (say, the state of Wisconsin), there may be multiple agencies that have laws or regulations that support a particular policy/goal. Plus, there may be other policy tools, like tax credits and grant programs, that could help towards a goal.

You can search the secondary literature (databases with news articles, or databases with scholarly literature about government, law, public affairs, social science–-see the second box in the middle column) for articles about different laws, regulations, and programs.  

If you’re looking at policies at the state level, the course guide has a page on More Wisconsin government resources & resources for other states.

We always think it’s a good idea to ask your professor or librarians for help with specific questions!

For Congressional Research Service reports, is there a way to see all versions of a certain overview they have written (to see how revisions have changed over time)? Will they all pop up when sorting?
Answer: Sometimes there will not only be multiple versions of a single report (with the same title), but reports on the same topic, but taking a slightly different approach. How many of those come up when you search depend on the keywords you search with.  

We have a screencast (with sound) that we think will answer your question.

What resource would you recommend for understanding/interpreting the text of legislation or proposed legislation?
Answer: Similarly to the guidance we offer for getting acquainted with policies about particular topics, we suggest looking for general news treatment about the laws and/or regulatory actions by either by running a Google Web search and filtering to News coverage (by clicking “News” at the top of your results list) or by searching one of the library and course guide-linked news media databases. You may also find using the Congressional Research Service (CRS) reports helpful, provided one has been written about the topic, toward understanding the history of the laws and rule-making process for that topic.We link to the CRS and a finding aid to these publications from your course guide.

Is there anything different about doing research for natural resource policy or law as opposed to other topics in science or policy.
Answer: The principles are the same. We recommend searching library databases, which we group by subject. For natural resources policy, you’d likely start with databases from the libraries’ list of databases under the “Environment/Natural Resources” heading, and move as needed to databases listed under headings for adjacent sciences, including “Biology/Zoology,” “Atmospheric / Oceanic / Climate Studies” or “Plant Sciences". These databases primarily will talk about the science part of natural resource policy or law.