Geography 315: Explanation & Understanding in Geography Library & Information Resources Prepared by: Anne Zald, UW Libraries EMail: zald@u.washington.edu Office: B060 Suzzallo Library, Map Collection Phone: 206-543-2725 Course Website: Stephen Young's Geography 315

Resources marked UW restricted can be accessed by UW-students, staff and faculty from off-campus - see Connecting From Home or use the Off-Campus Access button at the top right of this (and every) library webpage. Books that are unavailable in the UW Libraries can be requested through Summit, a shared catalog of college and university libraries in Oregon and Washington. Delivery in 3-5 business days. Articles in journals unavailable at the UW can be requested through Interlibrary Loan (UWorld Express). The current average time for receipt of photocopied materials is 6 days. (as per the ILL FAQ.)

Page Guide:	Topics to Questions	Find Books
	Literature Review Process	Find Journal Articles
	Background Information Resources	Find News Articles
	RefWorks, Citation Style Guides, Search Tips	Statistics Sources

FROM TOPICS TO QUESTIONS

Using A Topic to Generate Questions

For everyone who has ever wondered, "What is a Research Question?" and "How do I get one?"

LITERATURE REVIEW PROCESS

"One of the main reasons for writing the review is to make a proposal for the research you intend to do. This means that your review of the literature must provide a methodological rationalization for your research. You need, then, to demonstrate that you understand the history of your topic. The history is the assumptions and definitions other researchers have employed to study the topic. It is your responsibility to investigate this history in order to provide the story of how the topic was defined, established and developed."

Hart, Chris. 1998. Doing a literature review: releasing the social science research imagination. London : Sage. page 173.

Guides to Conducting a Literature Review for Geography Students: A Brief Bibliography

Search Tips for Finding a Published Literature Review

Flow chart of the literature search
This chart summarizes the stages of the literature review process, indicating types of sources to use and what kind of information they provide. Examples of each TYPE of source are listed below.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION: What is already known about your topic? / How has it been studied? / Who has studied this topic?

Terms & Concepts

Wikipedia

A product of the Internet volunteer community, this is a great place to start with almost any topic but use wisely and read the Discussion tab for any article to make note of any controversies or limitations of article content.

International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences UW restricted

This Encyclopedia describes the state of the art in all the fields encompassed within the social and behavioral sciences. Searches pull encyclopedia article citations, abstracts, & list of references. Full text is available in print under this call number H41 .I58 2001 at these libraries: Suzzallo Reference Collection (1st Floor), Bothell/CCC Reference, Tacoma Reference.

Oxford Reference Online: Politics & Social Sciences UW restricted

Can't remember what neoliberalism means? Search several dictionaries, including A Dictionary of Geography for discipline-specific uses of terminology and concepts. A great source for identifying synonyms and more specific terms to use in your database searching.

Oxford Reference Online: Science UW restricted

Subject Encyclopedias

Encyclopedias can function like textbooks, providing quick overviews of the major concepts, events, persons or organizations involved, and references to major literature published on a topic. Listed here are just a few examples. It isn't possible to list all that may be relevant, so please ask for assistance!

 

Johnston, R.J. 2000. The Dictionary of Human Geography.

Suzzallo Reference; Bothell/CCC Reference; Tacoma Reference GF4 .D52 2000

Encyclopedia of Human Geography UW restricted

Get an overview of your topic as it has been discussed by geographers along with references to key literature. Another version of the same text is available on trial through 4/30/08.

Cashmore, Ernest. 2004. Encyclopedia of race and ethnic studies. London ; New York : Routledge.

Suzzallo Reference GN495.6 .C37 2004

Ciment, James, ed. 2001. Encyclopedia of American immigration. M.E. Sharpe.

Suzzallo Reference and Odegaard Reference JV6465 .E53 2000

Douglas, Ian, Huggett, Richard & Robinson, Mike, eds. 1996. Companion encyclopedia of geography : the environment and humankind

This e-book is UW restricted

Print editions are available in Suzzallo Reference, Odegaard Stacks, Bothell/CCC Reference, and Tacoma Reference G116 .C645 1996

Encyclopedia of GIS UW restricted

Reviews the development of GIS technologies with emphasis upon their mathematical and computer science foundations.

Encyclopedia of transportation

Odegaard Reference HE141 .E53 2000 (6 volumes)

Goudie, Andrew S. (ed.). 2002. Encyclopedia of global change : environmental change and human society. Oxford University Press.

Suzzallo Reference GE149 .E47 2002

Historical encyclopedia of American labor. Greenwood Press, 2004.

Suzzallo Reference HD8066 .H57 2004

St. James encyclopedia of labor history worldwide : major events in labor history and their impact. St. James Press/Thomson Gale, c2004.

Suzzallo Reference HD4839 .S74 2004

Transportation planning handbook

Engineering Reference HE 152.5.T73 1999

Van Vliet, Willem. 1998. The encyclopedia of housing. UW restricted

Suzzallo Reference HD7287 .E53 1998

FINDING BOOKS

UW Libraries Catalog
Search for books, journals (but not the articles in them), videos, music, etc. that are owned by the UW or, in the case of web resources, reviewed by UW Librarians for quality.

Summit
Shared catalog of materials in WA and OR college and university libraries. Books can be requested online and sent to the UW in 3-5 working days.

FINDING JOURNAL ARTICLES

Use these databases to find articles that address all Geography concentrations.

GeoBASE UW restricted
Covers journals in human and physical geography, environmental studies, and international development. Articles in scholarly journals ONLY.

Expanded Academic Index UW restricted
Research Library Complete UW restricted
These two databases include articles from both popular and scholarly publications - so you will need to chose carefully OR click the box to limit your search to refereed publications or scholarly journals. These databases also cover many different disciplines in the social sciences, sciences, technology, business, and humanities, so can be a good starting place for many topics. Be sure to use additional databases in your subject area to find additional scholarly articles.

Web of Science UW restricted
Search by author, topic, and cited author. The cited author search and "times cited" feature allows you to begin unwinding the web of relationships among authors and ideas.

Economic Geography

EconLIT UW restricted
Access journal articles, books, and dissertaions on economics published since 1969.

CAB Abstracts UW restricted
Provides access to citations and abstracts of the international agricultural literature, including plant protection, forestry engineering, animal husbandry, animal and plant breeding, genetics, veterinary medicine, nutrition, rural development, economics, and leisure and tourism. CAB Abstracts indexes articles, books, conferences, reports and other kinds of literature

Development Studies

Anthropological Literature UW restricted
Index to articles and essays on anthropology and archaeology, including art history, demography, economics, psychology, and religious studies.

EconLIT UW restricted
Access journal articles, books, and dissertaions on economics published since 1969.

PAIS International UW restricted
Covers journals along with selected books and government publication of the UN and US federal agencies on the topics of public affairs and international relations.

CAB Abstracts UW restricted
Provides access to citations and abstracts of the international agricultural literature, including plant protection, forestry engineering, animal husbandry, animal and plant breeding, genetics, veterinary medicine, nutrition, rural development, economics, and leisure and tourism. CAB Abstracts indexes articles, books, conferences, reports and other kinds of literature

Feminist Geography

Left Index UW restricted
Diverse literature of the left, with an emphasis on political, economic, social, and culturally engaged scholarship. Topics covered include but are not limited to: the labor movement, ecology & environment, race & ethnicity, social & cultural theory, sociology, art & aesthetics, philosophy, history, education, law, and globalization.

Health / Medical Geography

CINAHL UW restricted
Coverage of the literature in nursing and 17 allied health disciplines from 1982-. Over 700 journals are regularly indexed.

POPLINE UW restricted
Reproductive health database; provides citations with abstracts of the worldwide literature in the field of population, family planning, and related health issues.

ProQuest Medical Library UW restricted
Scholarly and general interest sources in the field of medicine. Limit to scholarly material by checking the box next to "Scholarly journals".

PubMED
Produced by the National Library of Medicine, PubMED includes over 16 million citations to journal articles published 1950 to present in the life sciences with a concentration on biomedicine.

Society and Environment

Agricola UW restricted
Contains bibliographic records primarily of journal articles and book chapters acquired by the National Agricultural Library in agriculture and environmental sciences.

Columbia Earthscape: an online resource on the global environment UW restricted
An aggregation of resources in the Earth and Environmental Sciences.

PAIS International UW restricted
Covers journals along with selected books and government publication of the UN and US federal agencies on the topics of public affairs and international relations.

CAB Abstracts UW restricted
Provides access to citations and abstracts of the international agricultural literature, including plant protection, forestry engineering, animal husbandry, animal and plant breeding, genetics, veterinary medicine, nutrition, rural development, economics, and leisure and tourism. CAB Abstracts indexes articles, books, conferences, reports and other kinds of literature

Urban / Social / Political Geography

Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals UW restricted
Indexes more than 1,000 periodicals published worldwide on archaeology, urban planning, interior design, and historic preservation, as well as architecture; covers 1934 to the present

EconLIT UW restricted
Access journal articles, books, and dissertaions on economics published since 1969.

PAIS International UW restricted
Covers journals along with selected books and government publication of the UN and US federal agencies on the topics of public affairs and international relations.

CAB Abstracts UW restricted
Provides access to citations and abstracts of the international agricultural literature, including plant protection, forestry engineering, animal husbandry, animal and plant breeding, genetics, veterinary medicine, nutrition, rural development, economics, and leisure and tourism. CAB Abstracts indexes articles, books, conferences, reports and other kinds of literature

Area Studies Databases -- These databases may cover journal articles in a variety of subject areas - politics, sociology, international relations, literature - all united by their relevance to a broad geographic region.

Bibliography of Africana Periodical Literature Database. UW restricted
Index to over 200 English language journals that specialize in African studies. A related database is the African Women’s Bibliographic Database UW restricted

Bibliography of Asian Studies UW restricted
Access to western-language articles and book chapters on all parts of Asia published since 1971.

HAPI Online (Hispanic American Periodicals Index) UW restricted
Index to articles in magazines and journals produced in and about Central & South America.

Handbook of Latin American Studies UW restricted
Edited by the Hispanic Division of the Library of Congress, the multidisciplinary Handbook alternates annually between the social sciences and the humanities. Each year, more than 130 academics from around the world choose over 5,000 works for inclusion in the Handbook. Continuously published since 1936, the Handbook offers Latin Americanists an essential guide to available resources.

Index Islamicus UW restricted
A bibliography of books and index of articles in periodicals on Islam and the Muslim world.

Browse Subjects
If none of the above address your topic, start here to find additional resources. Look especially for the section "Find Articles".

NEWS SOURCES

News sources geographically closest to your area of interest may provide better coverage of events & issues.

Lexis-Nexis UW restricted
Contains hundreds of national and international news sources, some going back into the 1980s. Most material in English but does include some files in Spanish, French, German and Italian.

World News Connection UW restricted
Includes thousands of full text articles originating from hundreds of foreign news sources 1994 to present.

National Newspapers UW restricted
Indexing and full text from 27 U.S. Newspapers, including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Christian Science Monitor, USA Today

Washington State Newstand UW restricted
Partially full-text database covering 18 newspapers from around Washington state including Everett, Spokane, Port Angeles, Bremerton, Tacoma, Wenatchee, Yakima, and Seattle.

Newspapers: Finding News Articles
Provided by Microforms/Newspapers section, this page lists many additional news sources

Alt-Press Watch UW restricted
Full text access to newspapers, magazines, and journals of the alternative and independent press

Ethnic Newswatch UW restricted
Full text of over 170 ethnic, minority and native publications currently published in the United States (and selected international titles) back to 1991. English and Spanish language material.

STATISTICS SOURCES: Important for some topics

Reference Tools - Statistics
An excellent starting point for state & local, national, and international statistical data. The sources listed here are summary sources - much more detail is available!

FedStats
The gateway to statistics from over 100 U.S. Federal agencies.

Statistical Data from IGOs
Selected starting points for finding data from the World Bank, OECD, United Nations, International Labor Organization, and many more.

Statistical Universe UW restricted
Index to statistical content of publications produced by US federal agencies, international intergovernmental organizations (e.g. the UN, World Bank, IMF, etc.), US state government agencies, and private trade and research organizations.

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REFWORKS, CITATION STYLE GUIDES, SEARCH TIPS

RefWorks
Manage citations and format them to any style with a click of the mouse from any computer on or off campus. Tips for moving citations from geography databases into RefWorks.

Citation & Writing Guides
Since you'll be graded on the clarity of your writing and the completeness of your citations you may find one or more of the resources here helpful.

Distinguishing Scholarly from Popular & Trade Publications
Questions to ask yourself and examples.

Field searching
A technique to improve search results.

Logical operators
Tools to improve database search results - these also work in web search engines such as Google.

Information Cycles
Characteristics of different types of publications and the kind of information they can provide you.