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NRCC 192

First Year Seminar

Introduction to Morgan Library:

  • Welcome to the library, ask questions now, or you can call and email Amy Hoseth 491-4326.
  • Introduction to the Morgan Library (http://lib.colostate.edu/)

How to find BOOKS in Morgan Library: (also look for government documents)

  • SAGE search for books or titles of journals (Does the library own the book with the title: water on the great plains?)
    • Title or author search is good if you know the exact title and the exact author's name
    • Do you have the book: Water wars : privatization, pollution and profit / by Vandana Shiva.
    • Word search is good if you have a topic, keyword, or if you aren't sure of the title
    • I am looking for a book by Arno about forest or flames, I am not sure of the title....
    • I need to find books on water conservation
    • Use the journal title or title search to locate the title of a journal (NOT the articles in the journal--use databases to find journal articles)
    • Does the library own the journal Bioscience? example

  • Prospector searches CU-Boulder, Univ. of Denver, other libraries in this area. Good for books, not articles.

  • What if I need a book or journal article or conference proceeding or dissertation and the library doesn't have it? Order from Interlibrary Loan ILL. It can take several days for an article, about two weeks for a book.

  • Help, I need a reference book on soil analysis. Ask at the Information Desk, the reference collection has good encyclopedias, overviews, etc. Do a word search in SAGE: soil* analysis and then limit to location: reference.

  • A book chapter can give you an overview on the topic, frame some of the issues, give you a starting point to expand your research.

How to find TITLES OF JOURNALS in Morgan Library:

  • SAGE search for books or titles of journals (NOT articles in the journal--use DATABASES to find articles)
  • Does the library own the journal Bioscience? example

How to find GENERAL JOURNAL ARTICLES or NEWSPAPER ARTICLES:

How to find SCIENTIFIC JOURNAL ARTICLES on a topic, subject, or by an author

Use Databases to search, for journal articles on your topic or subject. The library has over 400 databases, this is a "short list" of starting points.

Set up your home computer to search databases at home/off-campus. Do you need help getting started, look at help with databases

Be careful when you search databases for an author. Sometimes the databases use last name and first name, sometimes they use last name and just the first initial and middle initial. For example if you are searching for articles by Dr. Jill Baron you might search by:

  • Baron, Jill
  • Baron J
  • Baron J* (the * is if you don't know the middle initial of their name, the * acts as a "wild card")

DATABASES to start with...

List of Selected Indexes to Academic/Scholarly Articles, other databases available from the Databases page. (go to the Databases page, then scroll down under select a subject to: agriculture, natural sciences, or natural resource recreation and tourism)
  • Agricola
    Citations and abstracts for articles from over 600 periodicals, as well as USDA and state experiment station and extension publications. This extensive database provides selective worldwide coverage of primary information sources in agriculture, forestry, and related fields. The literature cited is primarily in English, but over one-third of the database comprises citations in Western European, Slavic, Asian, and African languages. Coverage from 1970-present,updated monthly.

  • CAB Abstracts (Silverplatter) - Offers abstracts and citations to a wide range of research in agriculture, veterinary medicine, earth sciences, natural sciences, bioagricultural sciences, crop science, forestry, natural resources management, biology, agroforestry, aquatic sciences, fisheries, wetlands and other subject areas. The coverage includes international articles and conference proceedings. Coverage from 1973-current. Updated quarterly.

  • GeoRef (CSA)The GeoRef database, established by the American Geological Institute in 1966, provides access to the geoscience literature of the world. GeoRef is the most comprehensive database in the geosciences and continues to grow by more than 60,000 references a year. The database contains over 2.2 million references to geoscience journal articles, books, maps, conference papers, reports and theses.

  • GeoBase (OCLC) Worldwide literature on geography, geology, and ecology.

  • Web of Science (WOS)
    Science (ISI) - Formerly known as the Science Citation Index. This powerful database tells you who cited a particular article and who that article cited. There is keyword searching, but no thesaurus or descriptor terms. Best search results include using a variety of search terms.
    Coverage from 1945-present. Updated: Weekly!!

  • Wildlife & Ecology Studies Worldwide ** (NISC) - Wildlife Worldwide is the world's largest index to literature on wild mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians. Topics include mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, behavior, habitat use, damage, foods, feeding, management techniques, habitat management, habitat alteration, captive-animal care, endangered species, threatened species, traffic & disturbance, forestry, parasites, disease, pesticides, pollution, physiology, morphology, ecosystems, and ecology. There are over 500,000 bibliographic records, many include abstracts. The databases in this exclusive collection offer a global perspective and together form the ultimate resource on wildlife information. More details found at: http://www.nisc.com/factsheets/ww.htm.
    Coverage from 1935-present. Updated quarterly.

  • How to find articles, not just scientific articles.

Web Resources

 

Allison Level originally created the content of this page, but as of June 2007 it is no longer being updated.