Subject Guides: Energy Sustainability Engineering Technology: Find Internet Resources

Recommended Websites

Canada Green Building Council
The mission of the CaGBC is to lead and accelerate the transformation to high-performing, healthy green buildings, homes and communities throughout Canada.
Green Building Advisor
While this is a commercial site, it is a great resource for keeping tabs on the green building sector and there's lots of free stuff too!
Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources and Renewables
Government of Nova Scotia; provides information on a variety of energy topics, from energy efficiency and climate change to oil & gas exploration and development.
US Green Building Council
Contains a wealth of information about LEED in the US.
People and Planet
Canadian based, this site contains dozens of links to alternative energy information, organizations and associations. It also has a Canada-centric job board.

Are Your Sources Credible?

It is important to find credible print and online resources. When evaluating information, ask yourself the following questions:

Currency What is the date of the information? Is the information recent, or have there been newer updates?

Relevancy Why are you choosing this resource? Is this resource general or specific?

Accuracy Is this information correct? Can it be verified? Is it complete? Are there citations included in the information?

Authority Is the author, creator, or organization identified? What are their credentials?

Purpose Who is the intended audience? Is the site trying to sell anything? What biases does the author have

and how do they affect the resource?

Purdue Libraries. (2020, November 4). Evaluating sources: How to evaluate sources [Video]. https://youtu.be/KYrMC8ZaKA8

There are many methods for evaluating information. Two of the more popular methods are the CRAAP (currency, relevancy, authority, accuracy, purpose) test and CARS (credible, accurate, reasonable, support) evaluation method.

Snowden Library. Lycoming College. (2020, July 21). Evaluating online sources with the CRAAP test [Video]. https://youtu.be/Q8zRBdKlszE

The goal of peer review is to assess the quality of information within an article. Peer-reviewed articles may go through the following:

The author submits their article to an editor who forwards it to experts for review. These experts are considered to be the author’s peers (peer-review).
These reviewers carefully evaluate the quality of the information.
The peer reviewers check the article for accuracy and assess the validity or quality of the information.
The reviewers may suggest revisions or edits. If the article does not meet established standards for a given discipline, it is rejected.
Peer-reviewed articles that are accepted for publication demonstrate the best research practices in a field.

Features of a Peer-Reviewed Article

Infographic highlighting the features of a peer-reviewed article.

Where to Find Peer-Reviewed Articles

Search your library's article databases for peer-reviewed journals. To ensure that your results come from peer-reviewed or scholarly journals, do the following:

Read the description of the article database to determine if it features peer-reviewed articles.
On the database's search screen, look for a check-box that allows you to limit your results to peer-reviewed only.
If you didn't check off the "peer-reviewed articles only" box, look for an option that allows you to filter your results by resource type. For example, the database Proquest Central, provides an option for choosing "Scholarly Journals" in its "results" screen.

John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Lord Sealy Library. (n.d). Features of a peer-reviewed article. https://guides.lib.jjay.cuny.edu/evaluatingsources

Off-Campus Access

You can use NSCC Libraries' e-resources off-site by logging in with your w# and password (the same login information you use for your NSCC email). Please see the Streaming Video Guide for help locating video.