Entomology and Wildlife Ecology

Resources in this guide are intended to support the study and teaching of Insect Ecology and Conservation (structure, physiology, behavior, development, ecology, classification, and management of insects), as well as Wildlife Ecology and Conservation (species conservation, wildlife biology, ecology).

Included in this guide are catalogs, databases, and web resources for finding information in a variety of formats (books and encyclopedias, articles and journals, film and video).

Choose a research topic that interests you. Once you have thought of a topic, try stating it in the form of a question. This will help to narrow your topic and focus upon the aspect of the topic that you are going to research. So if you first thought of writing about mammals and behavior, try stating it in the form of a question: "How is the feeding behavior of bears affected by environmental factors?"

Reading an overview of your topic from a general source such as an encyclopedia provides background information, key words, and often a list of books and articles for further reading. Use the background information you located to determine key words or phrases that might be used to describe your topic. You may want to focus on a particular animal (deer) or a particular aspect of study (animal competition). You can use these keywords to search for books or articles in magazines, journals or newspapers.