ENGC 2102 Business and Technical Writing (Wardell)

Good background info; broad overviews of big topics.

Science E-book Collection (Gale)
Selected ebooks on science topics from Gale.

We live in the information age. The internet has lots of information and Google makes it easy to search. We recommend the CAPPS method for evaluating sources.

Consider the source's – More info about CAPPS

For researching this assignment, the most important elements to look at are: 

Publisher = who provides the content? 

• Professional association, e.g. Minnesota Apple Gowers Association
• University website, like the University of Minnsota.
• Government departments - anything with a .gov domain name. The department should also be labeled at the top of the web page, e.g. USDA (U.S. Department of Agriculture).

Author = for single-author content, who wrote this? Are they an expert through education (professor, government employee) or have knowledge through experience (farmer, salesman, professional association member)? There should be biographical information for authors on the article, or easily accessible via author's website, twitter, etc.

Searching Tips

• Helpful additions to search terms: Resources; university resources; Minnesota state resources; association; organization; guild. E.g., "Minnesota apple orchard resources" or "Minnesota apple association."
• Look at who a webpage links to--will often link to other good resources.

Government Departments
Minnesota Department of Agriculture - info about aspects of farming, including:

• Renewable/alternative energy sources
• Government grants
• Food (cider) licensing and sales
• Tax information

Minnesota Alcohol and Gambling Enforcement - liquor laws (for hard cider). FAQ is here; law handbook is here.

Agriculture and Rural Issues - from Minnesota Legislature Library. Links to web sources about agricultural issues. 

Minnesota Legislature - "Links to the World" - State legislative library's website that links to various government departments and other government and law info, grouped by topic.

Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy - Government department about renewable energy. Info on wind energy in Minnesota is here. 

Minnesota Commerce Department - Energy - Information about energy as related to businesses, including wind and solar energy. Agency in charge of energy is here.

Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry - Building codes (for event barn and storage cooler). Building codes are here. Info for a "Place of Public Accomidation" (events) is here. Fact sheet for building event barns is here.

Universities

Farm Answers - project from University of Minnesota and US Department of Agriculture. GREAT source for general info about farming. Link takes you to site search. Alternative site search via Google is here (type in your topic in search bar, following "site:farmanswers.org"). 

University of Minnesota Extension - Provides educational resources for Minnesota communities and businesses. Information on managing a farm is here. Info for commercial fruit growers is here.

Penn State Extension - Educational resources for agriculture. Has a searchable database. Info for produce storage (coolers) is here. Info for deer fences is here. 

Minnesota Fruit Research - via University of Minnesota - Educational info.

Professional Organizations and Non-Profits

Minnesota Apple Growers Association - links to Minnesota suppliers, materials, equipment sellers.

Minnesota Food Association - Resources - Educational info and links to other resources.

Sustainable Farm Association of Minnesota - Educational info and links to other resources.

Clean Energy Project Builder - Links to businesses that build/install clean energy sources.

Business Source Premier
Articles from business journals and magazines, company profiles with SWOT analyses, and industry reports.

Business (Gale OneFile)
Articles from business newspapers and trade publications on accounting, economics, finance, and marketing.