Research Tools
This is a guide to facilitate your search for materials. It is not meant to be an exhaustive list and students are encouraged to browse and explore as needed. Should you need further assistance, reference librarians are available at Canaday and Collier Libraries.
Many general encyclopedias and science encyclopedias are available in the reference section in Collier. Earth science encyclopedias are in the QE section of the reference area. Some noteworthy titles are:
Encyclopedia of Earth System Science QE5 E514 1992 v.1-v.4
Concise
Encyclopedia of
Gale Environmental Almanac GE80 H69 1993
Environmental Encyclopedia QH540.4 E59 v.1
Encyclopedia of Environmental Information Sources Z586.3 P7 E54 1993
Information Sources in Science and Technology, Chapter 13 (on reserve)
The Energy Sourcebook (on reserve)
To search for relevant books, start
by searching Tripod. Enter keywords to
start, e.g. coal reserves. You will most
likely get a few answers. Look through
them and note the most appropriate subject heading. Repeat the search again,
this time using the subject heading you just found. Once you have a few call numbers, go and
browse in the stacks. Look through some
current issues of Geology journals to get an idea of what is being research or
investigated. Check out World Oil, EOS,
Industrial Minerals, Oil and Gas Journal, to name a few.
Many databases are likely to yield something useful for your research topic. The most important database in Geology is GeoRef. This is an indexing tool which covers the international geologic literature in many forms of publication including periodical articles, government reports, conference proceedings and theses. This database is available on the Tripod home page. At the top, right click on databases. Then choose Geology – GeoRef. Other databases such as http://www.earthscape.org/index.html, INSPEC ( SilverPlatter) can also be searched. Consult your reference librarian for more details.
To find statistical information,
consult the American Statistical Index (ASI), located in the reference area in Canaday Library.
This provides abstracts for the statistical publications of the
government. This is one-stop shopping
for most of the statistical information you are likely to need. An abridged work - Statistical Abstract of
the
The Department of Energy publishes Energy Research Abstracts which indexes all energy information produced by other federal and state government organizations, and to a lesser extent, foreign governments as well. It also publishes the Monthly Energy Review, and the Annual energy Review, and the Energy Balances of the OECD Countries. (OECD is Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development). These titles are available at Swarthmore.
The USGS and Bureau of Mines are both bureaus within the Department of the Interior. All USGS publications are listed monthly in the New Publications of the USGS and searchable in GeoRef.
The Bureau of Mines publishes the multiple-volume Minerals Yearbook annually which provide detailed statistical and in-depth analysis on mineral usage and technology both domestically and worldwide.
Government Reports Announcements and Index (GRA&I) provides indexing and abstracting to many technical reports published by contract researchers of the Department of Defense, Department of Energy and National Aeronautics and Space Agency. These are located in Collier near the USGS publications. Although reports are mostly for sale, easy keyword lookup provides for easy citation of good relevant material.
5. Internet Resources
Try to take advantage the Internet information servers the government and others have put up for your consumption.
Some suggestions can be found at websites.html