ERTH 4820A

Omni lets you do 'one search' to find books, journal articles, newspaper articles, videos, etc. It searches almost all of our collections and databases, simultaneously.

If you know the title of a specific book, journal article, or journal, just type in the full title in the search box.

If you are keyword searching:

• Combine keywords with AND
• Combine Synonyms with OR
• Use truncation * (asterisk) at the end of a root word to find all forms of the word, ie: mineral* (will retrieve minerals, mineralogy, mineralogical, etc.)

When you get your results, use the filters on the left side of the screen to limit your search.

Note: If you are searching OMNI from off campus, you must login if you want to be able to access online journal articles and ebooks.

Search the Library's Search box for Books and Ebooks.

Refine your search by choosing Book/eBook.

--> Examples of search strategies using Boolean operators:

• biostragraphy AND foraminifera --> use AND to connect different topics
• "sequence stratigraphy" AND boundaries --> use quotation marks to ensure words are searched together as a phrase
• "crustal flow" AND (theory OR model OR style) --> use OR to string synonyms within parentheses
• geology --> Use the Refine your search options to specify material type or language of an item
• minerali*ation --> use the asterisk for variant spellings of words, or to truncate root words --> sediment* (sediments, sedimentary, sedimentology, sedimentation)

Tip 1: Learn to recognize subject headings in book records that are most common for your area of research and follow the subject web links. Assigned subjects allow books on the same subject to be shelved near each other.

Tip 2: If you are looking for a research topic, a good starting point is the Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences. It is a journal that provides timely reviews of significant developments across the earth sciences and is intended to keep readers up-to-date with new developments in the field.

To search for journal articles, you have several options:

• Recommended databases are:
  • OMNI (it is a 'one-search' tool on the library's main web page that searches everything in the library)
  • GeoRef (covers all North American geology sources and the U.S. Geologcial Survey)
  • GeoScienceWorld (geoscience articles from the leading societies)
  • Web of Science (multidisciplinary suite of science databases)
  • Google Scholar (multidisciplinary; connect via the library's web page so you can access the full text of articles)
• Use the Subject Guide for Earth Sciences for other database recommendations
• Refer to the database search strategies web page for help with constructing your search

Cited Reference Searching

This type of search is most often used for finding articles that cite a particular work. Many databases provide citation counts for individual articles. Why is this important?

• Keeping track of who has cited a given work can help you gauge the impact that article has in the discipline
• To find citation counts for in the earth sciences, use Scholars Portal Journals, Web of Science, or Scopus
• If the article has been cited, the database will provide a link to the citing articles

Cited Reference Searching for a known author

• this will give you a count of the number of citations an author has received
• use Web of Science (Cited Reference Search) or Scopus (Author Search)
• you can also analyse the results of a citation

Referencing

Referencing or citing your sources is an important part of academic writing. It lets you acknowledge the ideas or words of others if you use them in your work and helps avoid plagiarism. Referencing also demonstrates that you are using the scholarly record and that you can provide authority for statements you make in your assignments or term paper.

The use of direct quotes is rare in scientific articles and are only used for highly memorable words, witticisims or when confirmation of a certain conclusion is in doubt.

Natural and applied scientists use paraphrasing since their attention tends to be directed towards facts and data that do not need to be expressed precisely in the words selected by the original author.

The two most popular systems of in-text citation used in scientific writing are:

• Citation-sequence: the use of numbers within the text to refer to the end references (in order of appearance).
• Name-year: the use of an author's surname and year of publication, enclosed in parentheses.

Placement of in-text references:

• to avoid ambiguity about what is being referenced, an in-text reference should immediately follow the title, word or phrase to which it is directly relevant
• do not put all references at the end of the sentence
• when there are 3 or more authors, use the 'et al.' convention (Solomon et al. 2007)

Writing Tips:

• the purpose of your paper should be clearly stated in the introduction
• begin paragraphs with a conclusion statement and then support it - each paragraph should have:
  • purpose - core statement
  • context of the statement
  • evidence
  • examples
  • references
• organize tables and figures to facilitate comparisons; group related data together
• make tables and figures clear without reference to your text

When to cite references:

• facts that are not easily found
• statement of opinion
• statistical sources
• research findings and examples
• graphs, tables, charts, illustrations, figures

Sources used to prepare this web page are as follows and can be found in the library's collection:

• Scientific Style and Format; the CSE manual for authors, editors, and publishers, 8th edition T11.S386 2014 (on Reserves, floor 2)
• The Art of Scientific Writing, 2nd edition QD9.15 .E23 2004 (Research Help Desk, floor 2)
• The Brief Penguin Handbook, 4th edition PE1408 .F24 2018 (on Reserves, floor 2)
• Geowriting; a guide to writing, editing and printing in earth science QE48.85.G44 1995 (floor 3)
• Communicating rocks; writing, speaking and thinking about geology QE48.85.C67 2012 (on Reserves, floor 2)

Citing maps and GIS datasets can be tricky, but there are many resources available to assist you.

• Citing Geospatial Data and software (includes examples)
• Citing Maps
• Citing Maps and Geospatial Data user guide from Scholars GeoPortal (a source of Ontario- and Canada-wide GIS datasets) is basic but helpful in deciphering GIS metadata