GEO 305 - Environmental Hazards Assessment
Library
Spaces: Information about places in the library for individuals or groups
to study or prepare for presentations
Dictionaries and
Encyclopedias
Specialized books such as the following
titles can provide background information on your topic or help you with definitions
of words you may not understand. Bibliographies at the end of each article
may refer you to other useful sources.
Link to online dictionaries in geography, earth
sciences, GIS and remote sensing
Link
to online earth and environmental science dictionaries and handbooks from
Oxford University Press
The Facts on File Dictionary
of Earth Science. Jacqueline Smith, ed. 2006.
Location: ref QE5 .F318
Encyclopedia of Weather and
Climate. Michael Allaby, ed., 2007.
Location: ref QC854 .A45
Encyclopedia of Earth Science.
Timothy Kusky, 2005.
Location: ref QE5 .K85
Gale
Encyclopedia of Science. K. Lee Lerner and Brenda
Wilmoth Lerner, eds. 2004.
Online only.
Earth Science. James
A. Woodhead, ed. 2001. 5 vols.
Location: ref QE28 .E12
Encyclopedia of Earthquakes
and Volcanoes. Alexander Gates, 3rd ed., 2007.
This is an example of a specialized encyclopedia from the stacks.
Location: QE521 .R58
How to Find Articles Using the Databases
Databases are subject guides to magazines,
journals, and/or newspapers. For more choices than those listed below, go
to The University Libraries home page,
then click on Databases. Click
on the starting letter of the database or click on a subject area on the left
of the page.
Tips:
-When searching your topic remember to try a variety of subject headings for
the same concept. For example, nor'easters may be under blizzards or
winter storms, wildfires may be under forest fires, and landslides might appear
as part of an article on land degradation or erosion.
-Use specific language if you can. Articles tend to be on narrow topics unlike
books which may be on broad topics.
-Click here for tips on using the search
connectors AND, OR, and NOT in your search strategy.
REMEMBER: To get to the full
text of the journal article you must go through the Library's web pages. We
have paid for access to the journals. You cannot go to the publisher's page
to get an article.
Selected General Full Text Journal, Magazine and Newspaper Databases
These databases index a range of publications from popular to scholarly. If the database allows this, consider checking the box limiting a search to scholarly or refereed journals.
- Academic Search
Premier (EBSCO)
Provides abstracts for over 8,000 popular and scholarly journals covering
the social sciences, humanities, and sciences. Full text for about half
of those with some dating back to 1975.
- Expanded Academic
ASAP (InfoTrac)
This is a general database of over 9,000 popular and scholarly English-language
journals in many different disciplines dating from 1980. About half of this
database is full text. There is considerable overlap in journal coverage
with Academic Search Premier but each database indexes titles the
other does not.
- ProQuest
Research Library
Includes some full text articles from 2600 periodicals from a variety of
subject areas. Dates of abstracts and full text coverage vary by title.
- Lexis-Nexis
Academic
Full text articles from over 7500 journals, magazines, transcripts, newspapers,
editorials, newsletters, and other sources. Covers news, business, law,
medicine, government, and other types of information. Especially good for
short articles on current issues and for newspaper articles on issues and
programs relevant to North Carolina. Updated daily except for newspapers
which are usually updated within 48 hours. --Dates of coverage vary
by publication.
- To find articles on North Carolina,
--Click on Sources
(beige tab)
--Click on the folder News
--Scroll down to North Carolina News Sources (it's on the second page)
and check the box
--Click the red Continue
--Enter your search terms
--In the box
by Specify Date select a time period from the pull-down menu
--Click on the red Search box
--To see a few lines from the full text, change View
List to View Expanded List
--To see the full text of the article, click on the article
title
--Note that the print, email, download, and export icons
are towards the top right of the page
-
The "Legal" section includes legal news,
law review articles, state and federal case law, state and federal statutory
law (e.g. North Carolina General Statutes), and federal regulations (from
government agencies).
- Greensboro
News & Record, New York Times,
and Wall Street Journal
These newspaper databases would be particularly useful for local, state
or national coverage of hurricanes and floods.
Dates of coverage for the News
& Record : 1990 to present
Dates of coverage for the New York Times : 1851 to the present
Dates of coverage for the Wall
Street Journal : 1889 to the present
Selected Geography Oriented Databases
These databases index journals that are more scholarly in nature.
- Science Direct
Full text of hundreds of e-journals covering science, technology, medicine, and to a lesser extent, social sciences. Useful for earth sciences, environment, ecology, remote sensing, GIS, and some aspects of urban planning. 1995 to present but varies by title
- Web of Science
Indexes more than 8,100 peer-reviewed science and social science journals cover-to-cover, providing complete bibliographic data, full-length author abstracts, and cited references. The citation part of the database contains the references cited by the authors of the journal articles they cover. You can use these cited references as search terms. A cited reference search enables you to use a published work that you know to find more recent works that cite it. Indexes articles, bibliographies, book reviews, editorials, letters, meeting abstracts, notes, review papers, reviews of software, and more. Includes Social Sciences Citation Index and Science Citation Index. Covers 1955 to date.
- GEOBASE
More than a million records with abstracts covering cartography, geology, climatology, geography, urban planning, regional studies, and remote sensing. Includes dissertations. A limited number of items indexed are available in the UNCG Library. Materials date from 1980 to the present.
- Earthscape
An online resource on the global environment. Selects, gathers, edits, and links a wide range of resources, many of them full text, that are available online in earth science, astronomy and biology. Offers links to web sites for conferences, seminars, books and journal articles from around the world. Also includes data sets, teaching activities, teaching resources and current issues discussions. Dates of coverage vary; some full text.
- Agricola via the National Agricultural Library
Over 3 million records covering every major agricultural subject as well
as ecology, natural resources, water resources and water pollution. International
in scope, it includes periodical articles, books, government publications,
patents and more. UNCG Library holds a limited number of the items indexed.
Coverage is from 1970 to the present.
Use
Journal Finder to locate magazines,
journals, and newspapers
APA
Style Quick Reference
**Remember
to cite the database or publisher which actually has the text of the article,
not the database you used to find the citation**
Other
guidelines:
--first
names of authors are not used, just initials
--name
of the journal and volume number are italicized. The issue number is not.
--if
possible provide the issue number in parentheses after the volume number
--newer
articles show a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) in the complete record for
the journal. In your reference list this may be used in place of the URL or
database from which the item was retrieved.
Examples:
Electronic copy of a (fictitious) article retrieved from a database such as InfoTrac, Science Direct, ProQuest, or Academic Search:
Smith, W. C., Jones, M. A., Cramer,
S. H., Gaines, E. D., & White, L.A. (1993). Role of
early supervisory experience in supervisor performance.
Journal of Applied Psychology,
78 (3), 443-449. Retrieved October
23, 2000, from PsycARTICLES database.
Article (fictitious) coming directly from the publisher's or organization's website. For instance, Journal Finder shows we purchase Environmental Science and Technology directly from the American Chemical Society. The journal called Environment and Planning A comes from the publisher. Journal Finder may show the source as "Independent Publication (paid)." If the database you are using routes you through Journal Finder to another location for the full text, before you click on the link in Journal Finder, you should take note of whether the new link looks like a publisher/organization or another database. If you aren't sure, feel free to check with a librarian.
VandenBos, G., Knapp, S., &
Doe, J. (2001). Role of reference elements in the selection
of resources by psychology undergraduates. Journal
of Bibliographic Research, 5 (2), 117-123. Retrieved
from http://www.bibresearch.org/contents/2001/vand/5a.htm
Article with DOI number
VandenBos, G., Knapp, S., &
Doe, J. (2001). Role of reference elements in the selection
of resources by psychology undergraduates. Journal
of Bibliographic Research, 5 (2), 117-123. Retrieved
January 14, 2008. doi:10.1007/s00213-0597-7
Government Information
Considerable
relevant information is available in publications from the Dept. of the Interior,
NOAA, FEMA and so on. Many of these government documents are now available
online through numerous websites, some of which are listed below. For additional
government websites, click here: Federal Information
by Subject
For
links to government websites on the environment, click here.
Internet Sites
Thousands of Internet
sites provide information on the earth sciences. Google
Scholar can help you locate some of the best sites.
Selected
Internet Sites for Environmental Hazards
- Natural Hazards Center of the University of Colorado
This is a national clearinghouse for information on natural hazards and human adjustments to hazards and disasters. The full-text of several issues of the Natural Hazards Observer are included as are references to working papers, bibliographies and special publications.
- Selected Websites
on Natural Disasters
This is a particular section of the above website from the University of Colorado. An extensive list of links to information on every type of natural disaster is provided.
- Savage Earth
Features articles examining our ever-changing planet and the forces behind tsunamis, volcanoes, and earthquakes.
- Tsunami
This web site that had been developed to provide general information about tsunamis. Much of the site and its original information is now somewhat out of date, and in fact the site is currently undergoing overhaul. Due to the increased interest following the recent Asian tsunami, they are providing links to other sites with additional information.
- Tsunami
Research Center. University of Southern California
Especially interesting are the six video/animations of hypothetical tsunamis in the Southern California area.
- Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
An excellent article on the Indian Ocean earthquake and resulting tsunami of December 2004. Includes a detailed explanation of what happened, signs and warnings, casualty statistics, the environmental impact, and external links to scientific reports, videos and photos of the event.
- Yahoo-Science websites
Hundreds of websites concerning meteorology, hydrology, ecology, etc. can be accessed from the Yahoo science list. Choose from the Yahoo categories of earth sciences, ecology, geology and geophysics, hydrology, meteorology, or oceanography.
- WeatherNet
This website provides access to thousands of forecasts, images, and the Net's largest collection of weather links. An excellent way to track and follow news about the hurricanes of the current season. Ignore the initial announcements and scroll down to the extensive alphabetical list of organizations providing weather-related information including university meteorology departments and their research centers, television stations, research centers, storm tracking centers, federal weather agencies, etc.
- NASA's Earth Observatory
Click on one of the 5 icons under the words "Visible Earth" to find links to dozens of interesting websites.
- U.S. Geological Survey. Hazards
Starting point for government information on a variety of natural hazards. For maps showing the predilection for earthquakes, landslides, and floods as well as recent storm activity, click on the link "Geographic Distribution of Hazards." For more information on particular hazards, click on "Individual Hazards." The USGS has considerable information relevant to this course. Remember to search its home page (www.usgs.gov) and try doing searches such as North Carolina and floods or wildfires and California. While many of the links that are given are not applicable, the most relevant ones usually appear first..
- Blizzards/Nor'easters
Specialized website with descriptions and pictures of nor'easters and blizzards. Click on "Blizzard Information" for access to several dozen websites on specific storms.
- National Lightning Safety Institute
An interesting website with information not only on safety but also on the personal and economic costs of lightning, hazard mitigation, location of strikes, strike probability, and so on.
- Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
Responds to major natural disasters such as floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, and dam failures as well as human-caused emergencies. A good site for information on just the most recent large disasters.
Author Info: Nancy
Ryckman
