Librarian
Searching for Articles
These are the best databases to start with when looking for geology articles.
- GeoRef This link opens in a new window
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The place to start to find Geology literature. GeoRef has articles, conference proceedings, maps, reports, and dissertations. There is a subject heading for each tectonic plate. - GeoScienceWorld This link opens in a new window
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GeoScienceWorld has much the same indexing as GeoRef, but with a different interface. You can use a map to search for literature about a specific location, and you can narrow search results to specific geologic time periods. - ASFA: Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries Abstracts This link opens in a new window
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Don't be thrown by the name of this database, this contains technical literature pertaining to the marine and brackish-water environment, which includes marine geology. - Web of Science This link opens in a new window
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An index of most of the scientific scholarly literature. This database is especially helpful for doing citation searches: finding an article and seeing who has cited it, and which papers that article cites. - ScienceDirect This link opens in a new window
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Access to Elsevier journals, including many geoscience articles. - Google Scholar This link opens in a new window
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Google's search of the scholarly literature. There aren't many filter options, but this can be very helpful for finding an article by title (search for the title in quotes).
Special note about Journal of Geophysical Research
Special Note about the Journal of Geophysical Research
The Journal of Geophysical Research is broken into sections that are essentially their own subjournal (Solid Earth, Earth Surface, Oceans, etc), because of this our Find It service does not always recognize that journal, and it may look like we don't have access, or it may point you to the wrong section. Fear not!
- Online: We have access to all sections of the Journal of Geophysical Research from 1996 - present.
- To find print access: Look at the list of JGR journals on our Journals List. Click "Physical Copies" to get the call number. If the journal is at St. Olaf, click "Sign in For Request Options" to request the volume you need.
How do you know which section an article is in?
Some citations will specify which of the JGR journals they are published in, others list the subjournal with the volume:
