Brisbane Boys' College Library: Senior: 11 & 12: Unit 4: Changing Earth

Climate change: the facts 2017
Call Number: 363.738 CLI
Publication Date: 2017
Climate Change: The Facts 2017 contains 22 essays by internationally-renowned experts and commentators, including Dr Bjorn Lomborg, Dr Matt Ridley, Professor Peter Ridd, Dr Willie Soon, Dr Ian Plimer, Dr Roy Spencer, and literary giant Clive James. The volume is edited by Dr Jennifer Marohasy, Senior Fellow at the Institute of Public Affairs. Fourteen of the contributors currently hold or have held positions at a university or a scientific research organisation.
The Impact of Climate Change
Call Number: 363.738 FRY
Publication Date: 2009
World leaders, environmentalists and the international science community agree that climate change is one of the largest and most intractable problems now confronting us all. Despite this, it still remains a bewildering subject.
Fossil fuels
Call Number: 333.79 FOS
Publication Date: 2013
As a major producer of coal, oil and gas, Australia is heavily reliant on fossil fuels, which have underpinned Australia's energy and industrial sectors for the past century. Growing household energy consumption is an important contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, particularly because of Australia's reliance on coal for electricity generation. While coal and gas are the lowest cost fuel sources for electricity in Australia, they have much higher greenhouse gas emissions than renewable energy sources. What steps is Australia taking to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels and increase energy efficiency and sustainability?

QUT C.R.A.A.P. Test for Evaluating Websites

Check the quality of your websites using these criteria (adapted from QUT Library):
Currency: Timeliness of the information When was the information published, posted or last updated? Is the information current for your topic and field of study? How recent does it have to be? Can older sources work just as well?
Relevance: Importance of the information for your needs Is the information appropriate for a senior secondary course? Is this an adequately in-depth examination or a quick summary of the topic? Who's the intended audience? Is it the general public, a student, a researcher or industry? Is the level of information too basic or too advanced for your needs?
Authority: Source of the information Is the author/authoring body (individual person, or institution, or organisation) established and reputable? Are their qualifications, credentials, expertise, experience, educational background and previous work (if any) relevant and do they add credibility to the source? Has the piece been published by a well-known and respected publisher or organisation? Do references to other sources support the writing ie is a Bibliography or Reference List provided?
Accuracy: Reliability and correctness of the information Where does the information come from, and is it supported by evidence? Does it have a Reference List or Bibliography so you can easily find and verify the sources used? Are there any spelling, grammar, or other typographical errors?
Purpose: Reason the information exists What is the purpose of the information? Why was it written? Does the point of view appear objective, unbiased and impartial? Is the viewpoint of the author's affiliation/ sponsors reflected in the message or content? Does the author acknowledge alternative versions of the issues or facts?

How to Develop a Research Question from a Claim

QCAA Sample Research Question Developed From a Claim

Scroll down to p 4.

QCAA Earth Science: Unit 2: Developing a sample Research Question From a Claim
CLAIM: Rumen bacteria are the key to reducing greenhouse gases.
RESEARCH QUESTION: To what extent can kangaroo microflora introduced to the rumen of cattle reduce
the production of methane gas from cellulose digestion?
QCAA Earth Science Unit 4: Developing a sample Research Question from a Claim
CLAIM: Climate change will make extreme weather events more frequent.
RESEARCH QUESTION: What effect does climate change have on the frequency of cyclones crossing the Queensland coast?
QCAA Earth Science A3 Annotated Sample Response
Scroll down to p. 6.
CLAIM: Climate change will make cyclones worse.
RESEARCH QUESTION: To what extent has average temperature increase across the continent correlated with the frequency or severity of cyclones around Australia?

OneSearch Database Explorer

The ENTIRE collection of resources provided by the BBC Library can be searched on ONE single, powerful search platform, which retrieves print books, eBooks, database articles and websites. Click HERE for assistance.

Useful Databases

Useful Subscription Journals

Science News
Highly respected Science journal. Login with email: jking@bbc.qld.edu.au. Use the little magnifying glass symbol in the top toolbar to search.
Cosmos
Australasian Science Magazine

Useful Earth Science Websites

United States Geological Survey - One of the most prestigious geology websites

American Geosciences Institute

An American website that aggregates press releases and publishes lightly edited press releases about science

Google Scholar's searches are set to cover scholarly material more often than 'regular' Google. Google Scholar's searches are set to cover scholarly material more often than 'regular' Google. It can be frustrating, as much of an article or book is missing or by purchase only. Read the article below on the advantages an disadvantages of using it.

TIP: To get PDFs only, type in 'filetype:pdf'. It's great!

Advantages / Disadvantages of Google Scholar

How to use Google Books

Google Books can be very frustrating because often much of the book is missing and you are expected to purchase it to read the full content. So after you put in your search term you are interested in (eg biodiesel), and get some results up, you should then go immediately to the search box (on the left - above 'About this box') and type in a particular word or term you are interested in (eg CO2 emissions). You should get a number of pages pop up. Choose one that looks useful - you should get some good results this way!

MyBib Referencing Generator - APA 7

MyBib is an online referencing generator to help you with in text references and your List of References.

Sign up for an account so that it will store the references for your assignment. Add it to your bookmark bar to find it quickly.

Install the Chrome extension to make your referencing even faster.

MyBib - 'How to' Guide

Advanced Web Searching Tips

1. Use 'Ctrl F' (Control + Find) to search for particular terms easily in a long document, whether from a website or a database article.

2. Use a Boolean command - put double inverted commas around phrases to limit and improve your results eg "energy drinks problems".

3. Use filetype:pdf to search in Google for only pdf articles - "plastic pollution" filetype:pdf - will force Google to return results on plastic pollution which are only pdf articles (PDFs are great sources sometimes deeply buried in Google results and remain unseen).

4. Use a Google domain command eg site:edu OR site:gov to limit results to a CERTAIN DOMAIN such as education or government eg biodiesel site:edu

5. To check the authority of a website when it is not clear who the author / authority is, go to the end of the URL in the Google search box, cut back to the first forward slash (/) and hit 'Enter'. This will take you to the Home Page of the website, and you can see the full name of the source.

6. Use a Google command to limit results to the MOST RECENT: After you get your results, choose the Google Menu Bar, and choose 'Tools'. Then on the far left, at the drop-down menu next to 'Any Time', you can choose 'Within the last year' (or less, if you prefer), but generally, you can choose 'Custom Range' at the bottom, as often the last 3 years would be sufficient for a recent search.

Creating a Table of Contents and List of Figures

Creating a Table of Contents and List of Figures