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ENT 402: Forest Entomology Information Resources

Forestry and Entomology Information on the Internet

• Entomology Index of Internet Resources from Iowa State University

• North Carolina Pest Management Information Program (NC PMIP)

  • North Carolina Pest Management Information from the NSF Center for Integrated Pest Management (CIPM)

• NC State AgNIC Systematic Entomology: A Guide to Online Insect Systematic Resources

• Science.gov. A "gateway to authoritative selected science information provided by U.S. Government agencies, including research and development results."

• Scirus. A science search engine that searches for both Web sites and some journal articles.

• USDA Forest Service

  • USDA Forest Service Research Publications - Treesearch
    Research publications written or produced by Forest Service personnel. New.

• N.C. Division of Forest Resources

• Southern Pine Beetle Internet Control Center

• WWW Virtual Library: Agriculture

• Metla Library Forest-related Tags at del.icio.us

  • metla_library's items tagged insects

• National Science Foundation (NSF) Funding Opportunities. Information about funding opportunities and currently funded research programs.

• USDA's Current Research Information System (CRIS) Web site. Is the USDA's "documentation and reporting system for ongoing and recently completed research projects in agriculture, food and nutrition, and forestry."

• Funded Research (via Community of Science). Search to see what projects have been funded by the USDA and other organizations. (Note: This database is for Community of Science members only. Accessible only via one's personal COS Workbench.)

• COS Funding Opportunities. Contains detailed information for more than 20,500 available research grants worldwide. Updated daily.

To find other Web sites, click on Netscape's Search button and use one of the many available search engines. For searching tips and comparisons of the features of various search engines, see

• Web Searching, a guide from the Internet Public Library

• Search Tools Chart Carole Leita, InFoPeople Project
  

For examples showing how to cite Internet resources, see Citing Electronic Resources from the Internet Public Library.

Evaluating Internet Resources

Information is being made available via the Internet. Please be aware that not all of the information on the Internet is current or accurate. See some guidelines for evaluating Internet resources below.

Some things to consider when evaluating Internet resources:

• Scope. Is the topic adequately covered? What is the breadth and depth of the information presented?

• Criteria. Are there stated criteria for the inclusion of information or links?

• Content. What information is presented, and how well is it presented?

• Purpose. Is the purpose stated, or can you determine the purpose for which the site is designed?

• Audience. Is the level of information appropriate to the intended audience?

• Accuracy. Is the information provided accurate? If you're not sure, can you contact the author? Is the information cited correctly?

• Authority. Who published the document? Who is the "Webmaster"? What are their credentials? Check the domain of the document to find out what type of institution publishes the document. For example: .edu .com .org .gov

• Objectivity. Is the information presented objectively? Is there bias? What type of information is presented? What is the purpose or goal of the site?

• Currency. How current is the information presented? When was the site last updated? Do all the links on the page still work?

• Uniqueness. Is the information presented unique? Does the site present original information, or does it point to external links?

• Value. What is the relative value of the site? How does it compare to other sites? Has the site been reviewed? How relevant is the information?

• Ease of use. Is it easy to navigate around the site and locate information? Is the site searchable? Is the site designed well?

• Stability. Do links to other sites work? Can you usually connect to the site? Is the URL stable?

To get additional practice evaluating Web pages, see The ICYouSee Guide to Critical Thinking About What You See on the Web, a teaching guide from Ithaca College Library.

Librarian Contact Information

• Mohan Ramaswamy, Librarian for the Life Sciences and Graduate Services
• 513-3157
• mohan_ramaswamy@ncsu.edu