Quick Links

Tools for Finding Articles

Primary tools:
GeoRef
Web of Science

Other tools:
Environmental Sciences and Pollution Management
Academic Search Premier (EBSCO)
Expanded Academic (Infotrac)
GeoBase
Science Direct (Elsevier Online Journals)
Engineering Village (Compendex, INSPEC, NTIS) - Engineering & Applied Science
Conference Papers Index
National Technical Information Service (NTIS)
Water Resources Abstracts
Other Article Databases - for other disciples intersecting with geology (examples: health, life sciences...)
Locations of Many UIUC Print Geology Journals
Newspaper Articles (use EbscoHost for New York Times)

Full Text Electronic Journals and Books

Connect to Full Text Electronic Journals in the Geosciences
The Full List of Electronic Journals Available to UIUC Patrons

National Academy Books
American Association of Petroleum Geologists Publications
Index of USGS Online Publications (Central Region) - Includes links to Bulletins, Circulars, Fact Sheets, Open File Reports, Professional Papers, and more.

Tools for Finding Books and Documents

UIUC Online Library Catalog (Web)
World Cat
See Library Catalogs for other online catalogs
ProQuest Digital Dissertations - many with full text
Proceedings First
GPO Monthly Catalog (MoCat)
Virtual Technical Reports Center - U. Maryland Libraries
National Academy Press

Borrow Material not Owned by UIUC

I-Share: Get material from one of the other Illinois Libraries
Interlibrary Loan and Document Delivsery Service

Internet Resources

Oceanology/Oceanography Links
Google

RefWorks
References for Scientific Communication and Literary Style - from Dr. Steven Altaner, Geology Dept., UIUC
GSA Style Guide
AGU Style Guide
Writing Guidelines for Engineering and Science Students
Citation Guides for Electronic Documents
Suggestions to Authors of the Reports of the United States Geological Survey

Online Reference Collection
Encyclopedia Britannica and Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary
ChemNet - CRC Handbooks and Reference Material for Chemistry
EngNet - Chapman & Hall/CRC Handbooks and Reference Material for Engineering


Glossary of Geology, 4th ed., 1997, edited by Julia A Jackson: In the Geology Reference area [550.3 Am3gL1997]
Encyclopedia of Ocean Sciences: In the Geology Reference area [551.46003 En192 (6 volumes)]
McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, edited by Sybil P. Parker: Geology Reference [551.46003 M178] Also in Undergraduate, Grainger, and Main Library Reference.

Steps for Finding Information on Your Topic

Step 1. Select and narrow your topic.

One of the most common mistakes made by college students is the failure to sufficiently narrow the topic of the paper. For example "Thermohaline Circulation" might be a good place to start, but needs to be narrowed.

Another common mistake is to narrow the topic to the point that not enough material is available.

One strategy would be to search "thermohaline", look at the material available, and then narrow the topic based on ideas gained from the original search.

Step 2. Choose your search terms.

Think of synonyms. You will add to your list as you search and evaluate your search results. Example:

Step 3. Define your search strategy.

Your search strategy will partly depend on the search engine you use. Search engines are not yet standardized, and each will handle elements such as Boolean operators, truncation, and so forth differently. Consult the help functions for each search engine to ensure that you obtain the correct results.

Search tools:
• Boolean Operators: and, or, not (and not, but not). See figure. These are used to connect search terms in order to widen or narrow the search.
  
• Truncation: *, #, +, !, ?, $, etc. These are used as substitutes for characters within search terms. (Use with care. For example, rock* would retrieve rock and rocks, but also rockets and rocker, depending on the database. Examine your results and adjust your search if necessary).
  
• Nesting: Tells the search engine the order to perform operations by using parentheses (...).
  
• Phrases: Treated differently by the different search engines. With some search engines phrases must be enclosed in quotes.
  
• Adjacency: How close words must be within text. Treated differently by the different search engines.
  
• Stop words: Common words such as "a", "the", "of" that are not included in a search by the search engine. Treated differently by the different search engines.
  
• Fields: Some search engines, such as GeoRef, allow limiting the search to specific fields. For example, "hydrology in ti de ab" limits the search to the title, descriptor and abstract fields. This is useful when unwanted hits are resulting from terms in an institutional field or such.
  
Example of a complex search strategy using Boolean operators, truncation and nesting with GeoRef (Although this example is not related to "Oceans", it serves to illustrate a complex search):

ground*water and (mining or mines or tailing*) and (hazard* or toxic* or pollut*) and (model* or simulation)
• ground*water will search both ground water and groundwater.
  
• hazard* seaches for hazard, hazards, and hazardous.
  
• toxic* searches for toxic and toxicology.
  
• pollut* searches for pollution, pollutants, polluting, etc.
  
• min* would not work because it would search for mineral, minimum, etc., not just mines and mining.
  
• tailing* searches for singular and plural.
  
• chemi* searches for chemical, chemicals, chemistry...; the same for geochemi*.
  
• model* searches for model, models, modelling, modelled.
  

  This search could be conducted in steps. For example:

  • First, search: ground*water, resulting in 140,205 hits.
  • Then search: #1 and (chemi* or geochem*), resulting in 36,072 hits.
  • Then search: #2 and (hazard* or toxic* or pollut*), resulting in 13,413 hits.
  • Then continue adding search sets, finially ending with 245 hits, or continue to narrow the search.
  • Searching in sets helps you understand the results. For example, if you end up with zero hits, there may be a typographical error. You may expand or narrow your search after any step. Searching with one string of text can be faster, but searching in steps gives more control.
  
  Example of problems using truncation: rock* (returns rock and rocks, but also rockets, rockers, etc.)

Step 4. Choose a database

GeoRef (CSA)

• Indexes geological information published from 1700's to present; includes government documents.
• Searching:
  • Boolean: and, or, not
  • Truncation: *
  • Nesting: is used
  • Fields: "in ti de ab"
  • For help in using GeoRef via CSA, try this tutorial, or consult the "help and support" link on the GeoRef search screen.

GeoBase (OCLC FirstSearch)

• Indexes the worldwide literature on geography, geology, and ecology
• Searching:
  • Truncation, Wildcards, Plurals:
    • +: Plural and singular only. Example: rock+
    • *: Retrieves root word with all suffixes. Set to read a limit of 50 index entries. Example: struct*
    • # or ?: Wildcards. Can be used within a word; # replaces one character and ? replaces several characters. Example: Colo?r retrieves color and colour.
  • Caution: Make sure the correct fields are selected for your complete search (watch the defaults!).

Current Contents (Ovid)

• Indexes thousands of journals in all disciplines
• Updated every few weeks
• 1996 through present
• Searching:
  • Boolean Operators:
    AND, OR, NOT
  • Truncation:
    • $: Unlimited Truncation. Used to retrieve all possible suffix variations of a root word.
      Example: struct$ retrieves the words structure, structures, structural.
    • ?: Optional Wild Card Can be used at the end, or within a term.
      Example: Colo?r returns documents with either color or colour.
      
  • Adjacency:
    • "The defined adjacency operator (ADJn) retrieves two or more query terms within n words of each other, and in any order. The number n may be any number from 1 through 99, and should immediately follow ADJ without a space..."
  • Nesting (operator precedence): is used
  • Phrases: assumed if two words are together
  • Frequency: The Frequency Operator (FREQ) allows you to specify a threshold of occurrence for a term. For instructions, see the help menu when connected to the database.

Compendex Plus/ EI Compendex (Ovid)

• Deals with applied science and engineering
• Searching is the same as for Current Contents (above).

Environmental Sciences and Pollution Management (CSA)

• Environmental Sciences and Pollution Management is a multidisciplinary database covering literature of the environmental sciences published from 1981 to present. Topics related to geology include energy resources, environmental engineering, and pollution of land and water.
• Searching:
  Use the Advanced Search mode to build your search.
  Truncation: * retrieves all forms of a root word.
  Multicharacter Wildcard: Example: Pal*ntology for paleontology and palaentology.
  Single character Wildcard: ? For example, cent?? will return center and centre.

Ingenta

• Indexes thousands of journals in all disciplines
• Updating is sometimes slow
• 1988 through present
• Searching:
  • Boolean: and, or, and not
  • Truncation (right hand only): *
  • Nesting: is used
• Disadvantage: Sometimes not consistently up-to-date.

U.S. Government Documents (GPO Monthly Catalog; MoCat)

• The Catalog of United States Government Publications indexes print and electronic information published by Federal agencies. Many of these publications are distributed through the Federal Depository Library Program. The Catalog via paid subscription contains records from 1976 to present. A free index contains records generated since January 1994 and is updated daily. A print index, Monthly Catalog of United States Government Publications, contains earlier information.

Publications of the U.S. Geological Survey:

• USGS Publications Warehouse - many with links to full text; searchable

Web of Science: (ISI)

• Web of Science is the online equivalent of print citation products, such as Science Citation Index. Citation searching enables one to track lines of research forward in time by determining citations to older, important articles.
• Searching:
  • See the help section while connected to the database. This database is a bit more complicated than others, and results may be adversely effected by not understanding the system. See the librarian for help.
  • Search operators: and, or, not, same
  • Truncation/Wildcards: Single character: ? Multiple characters: *
    
  • Example for cited author search: Altaner s*; Nature; 1988 or 1999

Many other databases are available:

• Take a look at these lists.

Step 5. Conduct your search

Step 6. Evaluate search results, note additional terms and unwanted terms.

Step 7. Refine search and re-do.

Step 8. Find out whether UIUC has the material; if not, use Interlibrary Loan (IRRC).

• To find out whether UIUC has a particular book, use the online catalog.
• For journals:
  • Check the Full Text Electronic Journals pages.
  • Use the online catalog to find the call number (UIUC Online Library Catalog (Web)
  • Or find the location of many of the print geology journals by looking at Locations of Many UIUC Print Geology Journals.
• If UIUC doesn't have what you need, and it isn't available full text on the Web, use the online catalog to find out if one of the other Illinois Libraries has it. You can directly request circulating material held at these institutions without going through the Interlibrary Borrowing Office.

• If none of the Illinois Libraries have the material, use Interlibrary Loan.
• Make sure you leave plenty of time to receive material through Interlibrary Loan!

Step 9. Get the material

There are a number of libraries on campus. The books and journals you need may be in any of several, including the Main Library and the Geology Library. Undergraduates can get material out of the Main Library by going to the Main Library circulation desk and requesting it. (The Main Library is sometimes referred to as "The Graduate Library". This is incorrect. While undergraduates cannot go into the Main Library stacks, they can still go into the building and get material). The Geology Library is in the Natural History Building in room 223 (near the buffalo). Just ask for what you need at the desk. If you need an article, don't forget to check whether it is available as full text online.

Other:

• Geology Library Home Page

• UIUC Department of Geology

Please come see me if you need any help. If you'd like to make an appointment, contact me by phone (333-2676) or e-mail (luraj @ uiuc. edu).

Lura Joseph
Created 02/3/03 LEJ


University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Library Gateway Homepage
Comments to Geology Library
Modified on: 8/2/06 lej