Find background

Reference books can be used to acquire basic information on an unfamiliar concept or gather ideas for your paper topic.

Quick lookups:
AccessScience - dictionary
Practical Handbook of Marine Science - Science Reference GC11.2 .P73 2001
Glossary of Coastal Terminology - NOAA - 1998
Glossary of Geology Online WC campus
Oxford Reference Online - More than 100 dictionaries

Longer explanations:
AccessScience - encyclopedia
Encyclopedia of Earth - peer-reviewed background articles
Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences - Science Reference qQE5 .E5137 1996
Encyclopedia of Ocean Sciences - Science Reference qGC9 .E57 2001
From Cape Cod to the Bay of Fundy: an Environmental Atlas of the Gulf of Maine - Science Ref QH105.M2 F76 1995

Geographic names:
USGS Geographic Names Information System

Popular articles:
Scientific American Archive - interdisciplinary science magazine for the intelligent layperson - 1993-present

Find journal articles

The following databases provide either full-text articles or citations (information about when and where the peer-reviewed article was published).

• Once you have a citation for an article, use the Find It! @ Wellesleylink from each citation to search one or more electronic journal sources through the Wellesley College Library Catalog.
• Use the name of the journal as the title and make sure you look at the dates covered carefully!
• If Wellesley does not own the article, you can request it via Interlibrary Loan (ILL).

Major databases:

JSTOR - electronic archive (back to first volume) of selected online journals, but they are always several years behind the current year/volume - JSTOR Tips & FAQs

Science Direct - indexes more than 2,000 journals, often from volume one; online articles (= green icons) for 150 scientific journals - 1995- present - Help pages

Web of Science - interdisciplinary subject searching of scholarly articles in the physical, life, and social sciences - also can search for articles that cite known journal articles or books - 1965-present - Tutorial

Google Scholar - multidisciplinary coverage of peer-reviewed literature— journal articles, theses, books, preprints - unspecified time coverage & breadth/depth of sources - complements but does not replace other searching - Advanced Scholar Search Tips

See our A-Z list for additional databases, or feel free to consult a Science Librarian for more help.

Find books

Wellesley College Library Catalog

• tip: in the library catalog, start with keyword > choose a useful book > Full Record tab - follow the subject links to find more on that topic
• tip: to see the subscription details for a print journal or serial ['Lib has'] > Full Record tab.

WorldCat - Use WorldCat to find books and other materials not at Wellesley. If you find a book you want that Wellesley does not own, you can use the ILL link within WorldCat to request the book.

Key web sites

**Remember, you must evaluate web resources that you find with a search engine the same way you would evaluate print sources**

1. Accuracy: How factual is the web page? Are the facts well-documented?
2. Authority: What are the professional credentials of the authors? Can you recognize the difference between a webpage author and a webmaster?
3. Objectivity: Pros and cons? Are there conflicting interests? Is the page advocating a cause? Who is the intended audience?
4. Currency: Is the page being updated regularly? How current is it now?
5. Coverage: Does the page require special software to view it? Is there a fee to view it, or is it free? Is the information presented cited correctly?
6. Ease of Use: Is the page easy to navigate? Are directions straightforward? If it is not easy to use, visitors will leave the site quickly.

Coastal Topics in U.S. federal agencies: NOAA - USGS - EPA
Example: National Environmental Data Index

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Return to Research Guides by Subject: Geosciences

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