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Geology (GEOL)

Find  Articles

The library features over 200 databases to help you find different type of articles. When using databases look for the following format filters:

  • Scholarly
  • Peer-Reviewed
  • Academic Journals
  • Magazines
  • Trade Publication
  • Newspapers

Key Databases for Geology

Additional Resources

Dissertations & Theses

Topic Search

Tips for Locating Full Text Articles

If you only have a citation of an article, try one of the options below to locate the full-text of the article. 

        1. Click the "Find It!" link, near a citation in an online database, if you're in the middle of
            searching the databases.

Example: Getting the Full Text in EBSCO Databases

  1. Go to the Libraries homepage, search for an article title in our Library catalog, HPU Discovery. https://www.hpu.edu/libraries/index.html
     
  2. Go to the Libraries homepage, click on Periodicals and type a title of journal or title of article into the search box.

Example:
Journal Title: Food Microbiology    21 (2004), pp. 535–541

Article Title: Bacteriological quality and safety of raw milk in Malaysia
(Note: you would also need to input at least one more information on the article such as author(s), Journal/publication title, ISSN, etc.)
 

  1. Go to the Libraries homepage, click on Databases and then click on the letter G for "Google Scholar at HPU".  From there, enter a title of article, author(s) or DOI name into the search box.

Example:

Article title: Bacteriological quality and safety of raw milk in Malaysia

Author(s): Fook Yee Chye, Aminah Abdullah, Mohd Khan Ayob

DOI: 10.1016/j.fm.2003.11.007
 

  1. Go back to the A-Z Databases, click on the letter C and scroll all the way down, and then click on Crossref Metadata Search. From there, enter or paste a DOI name/ a title of an article into the text box provided.

Example:

Article title: Bacteriological quality and safety of raw milk in Malaysia

DOI: 10.1016/j.fm.2003.11.007

 

If any of the options above don't work, then request articles via Interlibrary Loan (ILL) and Document Delivery Services for the HPU Libraries (Use the Journal Article Online Request Form)

 

Search Tips

A keyword is a term used to perform a search using natural language. A keyword search will search your terms in the entire record of that item (the title, author, abstract, general description, and subjects). Keyword searches generally return more results.

All databases use the keyword search as the default; if you want to search by subject terms, your need to indicate so in the search field.

A subject term or subject heading is a term selected by indexers or catalogers as a predetermined item description. In other words, a person has looked at the book or article and assigned specific subjects that represent the main topics in that book or article. Therefore a subject term search will only retrieve books or articles assigned to that particular term (similar to what hashtags do). You can find subjects relevant to your topic by looking at the record of the item. A subject search is more relevant and specific than a keyword search.

Build complex searches by choosing the Advanced Search option within databases and use Boolean operators. Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) are commands that connect two or more terms together.

  • AND is used to narrow your search. Results return will contain all the terms it connects.
  • OR is used to expand your search. Results will contain either term it connects.
  • NOT will limit your search and will exclude terms from your results.

Use truncation, wildcards, and quotations to make your search more comprehensive.

  • Truncation refers to a search with multiple endings. Use to replace one or more characters at the end of the sequence of the word, it is ideal to do so at the root of the word.  Most databases, use an asterisk (*) but some databases use a dollar sign or exclamation mark ($ or !) for truncation. For example, searching child* will return results for child, children, childhood, etc.
  • Wildcards can be used where there are multiple spellings for a word. Use to replace one or more characters within the word. Most databases, use an asterisk (*) but some databases use a hashtag sign or question mark (# or ?) for wildcards. For example, if you were searching col*r, you will retrieve both color and colour.
  • Quotation marks (" ") allow you to search for exact phrase, such as a title of a book. Use quotation marks to search for those words as a phrase instead of individually. For example a search for “The color purple” will only search for that phrase and not for each word separately, so you will get more specific results.

All databases will allow you to limit your search in various ways, filtering out the sources you don't want.  Some of the most common limiters/filters are:

  • Full-text – Click to limit results to articles with full text.
  • Peer Reviewed – Limits search results to articles from peer-reviewed or refereed journals.
  • Journal/Magazine – Enter a journal/magazine name in this field to limit results to articles only from that title.
  • Date Published – Use this option to search for articles within a specified date range.

If you aren't given limiting options on the basic search screen, try clicking on the "Advanced Search" link.  If you start your search without adding limiters, some databases, like EBSCOhost and ProQuest, allow you to apply limiters from your results screen.  The more limiters you use, the fewer results you will get.

Additionally, all databases have sets of searchable fields that enable you to search within a specific section of a record. Most common search field include:

  • Author
  • Title
  • Journal Title
  • Abstract
  • Keywords
  • Affiliation.

Some databases have Field Codes such as the EBSCO databases to search within a specific section of the record. The field code is represented in a two-character abbreviation when inserted into the query. When using field searchers, be sure that the term you're using is on the list of acceptable terms for that field. Some fields use like Subject Terms are pre-populated lists of terms from a thesaurus.

Additional Resources 

Finding Peer-Reviewed Articles

Here is a quick summary of the search process.

1. Once your topic is decided, select the appropriate databases for your subject.

2. Do a trial search, using a few of the specific key terms for your topic.

3. Review the full record of the first ten or more articles.

4. Focus only on the subject terms in the results:
-Did you select a keyword that is their subject heading?
-Is there an alternate subject term to use?
-Are there some terms that will help you narrow your retrieval?

5. Revise your search using the subject terms found.

6. Narrow further, if necessary, by adding more terms or other limiters available.

7. Check if you need to adjust the time coverage for your topic.

Reminder: the titles of articles do not always indicate the content of the articles (their subject focus), but if you have done a subject search then you know the articles will cover your topic.
 

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