How to Find Library Resources for UIUC Geology 380, Environmental Geology

Quick Links

Tools for Finding Articles

GeoRef
Environmental Sciences and Pollution Management
Academic Search Premier (EBSCO)
Expanded Academic (Infotrac)
GeoBase
Current Contents
Web of Science/Web of Knowledge (Science Citation Index)
Ingenta - Browse or search publications
Science Direct (Elsevier Online Journals)
JSTOR
Compendex /Engineering Village
Conference Papers Index
National Technical Information Service (NTIS)
SciFinder Scholar (Chemical Abstracts) - from Chemistry Library public computers.
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
Scirus - Searches for scholarly articles (most available to you online) or more scholarly web sites (either, or both; "both" is the default)

Full Text Electronic Journals

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

Tools for Finding Books and Documents

UIUC Online Library Catalog (Web)
World Cat
See Library Catalogs for other online catalogs
Dissertation Abstracts
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 Delivery Service

Internet Resources

A place to start
EPA Envirofacts Data Warehouse
National Library for the Environment (CNIE)
Superfund Query Form
Chemical Scorecard - Environmental Defense Fund
Mineralogical Society of America Links
Links for Geology 118, UIUC
Resources for Earth Science and Geography Instruction - Mark Francek, CMU
Environmental Links from ChemIndustry.com
MSDS Search - Material Safety Data Sheets
RTKNet - (Right-to-Know)
Introduction to Environmental Geology - Edward A. Keller
DOE Information Bridge - Links to full text documents

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]

Just for Fun

There are three novels (a trilogy) by Kim Stanley Robinson on the subject of environmental issues, set slightly in the future. These are very well researched and highly thought provoking. They are about Mars, but also about Earth. They should be read in order: Red Mars [Undergrad 813 R5634RE], Green Mars, Blue Mars [Undergrad 813 R5634B]. Robinson has also started another environmental novel trilogy focusing on global climate change, starting with Forty Signs of Rain and followed by Fifty Degrees Below.

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 "Yucca Mountain" might be a good place to start, but needs to be narrowed. Other topics that need to be narrowed include "Asbestos", "Global Climate Change", "Hanford Site", "Superfund sites", "Rocky Flats", etc.

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

One strategy would be to search "Yucca Mountain", 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:
  

  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 over 163,000 hits.
    • Then search: #1 and (mining or mines or tailing*), resulting in over 9600 hits.
    • Then search: #2 and (hazard* or toxic* or pollut*), resulting in over 4100 hits.
    • Then continue adding (model* or simulation) , finially ending with over 900 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 your 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, sent
  • 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:
  • Use the online catalog to find the call number. You can use the ISSN number from database output (For example, the "IS" field in GeoRef).
  • Or find the location of many of the geology journals by looking at this list.
  • Connect to Geology online journals.
  • Check the Full Text Electronic Journals pages.

• 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 65 ILCSO Libraries has it. You can directly request circulating material held at these institutions without going through the Interlibrary Borrowing Office.

• If none of the 45 ILCSO Libraries have the material, use Interlibrary Loan.

  Make sure you leave plenty of time to receive material through Interlibrary Loan!



• Geology Library Home Page
• UIUC Department of Geology
• Illinois State Geological Survey
• Illinois Department of Natural Resources
• Illinois State Water Survey
• Waste Management and Research Center
  

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 at uiuc dot edu).

Lura Joseph
Created 01/14/03 LEJ