Types of Sources
Journal Articles
Look in: LibrarySearch, AAPG, GeoScienceWorld, Google Scholar
Grey Literature (e.g. government publications, technical reports, etc.)
Look in: Google filetype:pdf search, Government repositories
Society publishing (special publications and memoirs)
Look in: LibrarySearch, AAPG, GeoScienceWorld
Conference publications (abstracts, papers)
Look in: LibrarySearch, AAPG
Theses and Dissertations
Look in: LibrarySearch
Finding Materials in the Library
Tips for searching for articles in the library:
- Be specific
- Use only terms relevant to your research question
- Use names of places, features, formations, etc. when possible
- Use filters
- You will likely use the peer-reviewed and resource type filters most often
- The peer-reviewed filter excludes books
- The peer-reviewed filter includes non-research content in scholarly journals(editorials, conference summaries, book reviews, etc.)
- Sign in to your account to save search results and searches
Use the search box on the library home page to search within individual journals.
Cited Reference Searching
Journal articles cite previous research, usually on similar topics. You can look through literature reviews and reference lists to search out other relevant literature.
If you have found an on-topic journal article, you can use tools to search for articles that have cited your article since it was written.
LibrarySearch
Resources
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American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) This link opens in a new window
A digitized collection of the the entire AAPG library as well as the CSPG Bulletin and many other related publications.
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GeoScienceWorldA core database aggregation of eBooks & peer-reviewed journals for research and communications in the geosciences.
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ScienceDirect
Contains full text journal content in the areas of social & behavioral sciences, health & life sciences, and physical sciences.
Finding Project Information
Search for project websites to identify:
- Project leads
- Location
- Information about the project
- Articles
E.g. ICDP - Lake Junin Drilling Project; LacCore Projects Website
Find articles and data related to the project:
- Search for articles written by project leads in LibrarySearch
- Use GeoScienceWorld to find articles by location
- Search for the project/site in relevant journals (e.g. Scientific Drilling)
- For larger projects, use Paleo Data Search from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
For Alberta-based projects, consider these as first steps:
- Search AAPG using Canada Group and AAPG Bulletin as limiters
- Search within the Bulletin of Canadian Petroleum Geology / Bulletin of Canadian Energy Geoscience for articles about your specific area.
- Use GeoScienceWorld to find articles by location
- Look in the Atlas the of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin for information about your area.
- Search through the publications of the Alberta Geological Survey*, paying particular attention to open file reports, maps, and data.
* You might find publications that refer to locations using the Alberta Township Survey System. The system uses a grid to divide the province into parcels of land and identifies each using a unique set of numbers called a legal land description. More information about the Alberta Township Survey System can be found on this document.
You can use this map to find legal land descriptions in Alberta. Make sure the Alberta Township System layer is on and zoom in.
Practice
Using the search techniques we discussed:
- Find 3 publications related to your topic
Citation
If you use tools to help you cite sources, always double check your reference against the guide. Online tools rarely produce 100% accurate references.
