What other resources are helpful?
When evaluating information you find on a website, be sure to think about-
- Who created the resource? Who is the audience?
- What type of resource is it? What is it's purpose?
- When was the resource published or last updated?
- Where did the information come from?
- Why was this resource published?
- How was the information gathered and presented?
These questions can help you determine if the resource is valuable for your research.
Websites & Dataset Resources
Select a tab below to find government sites, data sources, and other related websites.
- Science.govScience.gov searches over 50 databases and over 2100 selected websites from 13 federal agencies, offering 200 million pages of authoritative U.S. government science information including research and development results.
- National Renewable Energy LaboratoryNREL develops renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies and practices, advances related science and engineering, and transfers knowledge and innovations to address the nation's energy and environmental goals.
- USGS Energy Resources ProgramThe Energy Resources Program is part of the USGS Energy and Minerals, and Environmental Health Mission Area that conducts research and assessments on the location, quantity, and quality of mineral and energy resources, including the economic and environmental effects of resource extraction and use; and conducts research on the environmental impacts of human activities.
- U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)The EIA collects, analyzes, and disseminates independent and impartial energy information to promote sound policymaking, efficient markets, and public understanding of energy and its interaction with the economy and the environment.
- NASA Global Climate Change: Vital signs of the planetView the latest data on the vital signs of the planet, including arctic sea ice levels, carbon dioxide, sea levels, global temperature and land ice.
- National Service Center for Environmental PublicationsYou can search, retrieve, download, print, and order EPA technical, scientific, and educational materials from this site – all free of charge
- U.S. Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI)Includes technical reports, bibliographic citations, journal articles, conference papers, books, multimedia, software, and data funded in whole or in part by the DOE the 1940s to today.
- U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)The mission of the Energy Department is to ensure America’s security and prosperity by addressing its energy, environmental and nuclear challenges through transformative science and technology solutions.
- U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyThe mission of EPA is to protect human health and the environment. To accomplish this mission, they develop and enforce regulations, give grants, study environmental issues, teach people about the environment, and publish information.
- James River AssociationA non-profit that monitors the river, responds to problems, seeks policy changes, and implements on-the-ground projects to restore the river’s health. We protect through our Watershed Restoration, James Riverkeeper, and River Advocacy programs.
- The South River Science TeamServes as a focal point for technical issues associated with mercury in the South River and downstream waterways. Our goal is to understand why mercury in South River fish has not decreased over time and identify potential solutions to improve the situation.
- Virginia Cooperative ExtensionProvides resources and educational outreach to the Commonwealth of Virginia’s more than seven million residents in the areas of agriculture and natural resources, family and consumer sciences, community viability, and 4-H youth development.
- Virginia Department of Conservation & RecreationA department of the government of Virginia; it oversees all Virginia state parks and Natural Area Preserves.
- Virginia Department of Environmental QualityThe agency provides technical and financial assistance for air and water quality improvements, coastal zone management and remediation of contaminated land and water.
- Virginia Department of Wildlife ResourcesMaintains Wildlife Management Areas (WMAs) for the benefit of all citizens for a variety of outdoor opportunities.
- Virginia Water Environment Associationa non-profit, technical and educational organization focused on producing quality programs for continuing education and training for our members, the technical community and the general public. VWEA is a member association of the Water Environment Federation (WEF) and collaborates with many other industry organizations, such as WEF and the Virginia Section of the American Water Works Association.
- Google Scholar This link opens in a new windowSearch across many disciplines and sources: articles, theses, books, abstracts and court opinions, from academic publishers, professional societies, online repositories, universities and other web sites.
- International Energy AgencyThe IEA is an autonomous organisation which works to ensure reliable, affordable and clean energy for its 28 member countries and beyond.
- Bioenergy Knowledge Discovery FrameworkProvides access to a variety of data sets, publications, and collaboration and mapping tools that support bioenergy research, analysis, and decision making. In the KDF, users can search for information, contribute data, and use the tools and map interface to synthesize, analyze, and visualize information in a spatially integrated manner.
- Environment & Society PortalProvides digital multimedia and interpretive materials in environmental humanities, including exhibitions, articles, journals, images, and recordings.
- Western Waters Digital LibraryProvides a wide range of significant resources on water in the Western United States. Available resources include classic water literature, legal transcripts, maps, reports, personal papers, water project records, photographs, audio recordings, videos, and other material.
- Data Explorer"Discover collections of scientific research data, such as computer simulations, figures and plots, interactive maps, multimedia, numeric files, and scientific images."
- Data.gov This link opens in a new windowDatasets on nearly every aspect of society, from climate to finance to agriculture.
- ICPSR (Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research) This link opens in a new window
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Archive of social science data for research and instruction, available for download and re-use.
Note: users must create an account in order to download data
- Ag Data CommonsA general repository for research data related to food and agriculture, which enables the USDA’s compliance with both public access and open data requirements to make federally funded research data open, accessible, and machine-readable.
- U.S. Energy Information Administrationproduces two weekly reports that track the latest retail prices of select petroleum products. Petroleum product price and consumption data published in these products illustrate market trends.
- Statista This link opens in a new windowA data aggregation and research platform covering worldwide markets, industries, and societal topics. Data is compiled from private and public sources aggregated from North American, Europe, and Asia.
- United Nations Environment Programme Data ResourcesHolds more than 500 different variables, as national, subregional, regional and global statistics or as geospatial data sets (maps), covering themes like Freshwater, Population, Forests, Emissions, Climate, Disasters, Health and GDP.
- National Centers for Environmental Informaion (NCEI)Formerly three separate data centers (Climactic Data, Geophysical Data, and Oceanographic Data). A robust archive of environmental data, including many satellite images.
Media Resources
Select a tab below to find Audio, Video, and Image resources.
- ScienceCinema"Highlights scientific videos featuring leading-edge research from the U.S. Department of Energy. Using innovative, state-of-the-art audio indexing and speech recognition technology from Microsoft Research, ScienceCinema allows users to search for specific words and phrases spoken within video files."
- Western Soundscape ArchiveOffers thousands of recordings of Western animal species and their environments. Search by name or keyword, or browse all sounds currently available.
- Birds of the World (The Cornell Lab of Ornithology) This link opens in a new windowBirds of the World brings together deep, scholarly content from four celebrated works of ornithology with millions of bird observations from eBird and multimedia from the Macaulay Library into a single platform where biologists and birders can explore comprehensive life history information on birds.
- Kanopy This link opens in a new windowContains over 25,000 videos, documentaries, training films, theatrical releases, and more.
Note: the login/sign up buttons at the top right of the Kanopy interface are for creating and logging in to personal accounts. It is not necessary to log in to view films if you're on campus. If you are off campus, you will be prompted to log in as a JMU user when you select a film. - Films on Demand This link opens in a new window
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Streaming video resource containing thousands of educational videos in all major subject areas; includes access to archival films and newsreels.
- Creative Commons (CC) SearchCC Search lets you search common websites like Google, Flickr, YouTube, and more to find images that are specifically available modify, adapt, or build upon or use commercially.
- Google Arts & CultureIncludes online collections from partner institutions
- NOAA Photo LibraryCreated to capture the work done by personnel at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Most of the images are in the public domain and can be freely reused.
- Wikimedia CommonsA collection of millions of media files on an enormous range of subjects that are FREE to use and to which anyone can contribute.