Content last reviewed:
The focus of this web page is to provide graduate level research guidance with respect to the philosophy of geography, and the interaction between human beings and their environments.
Begin by investigating your topic
- International Encyclopedia of Human Geography - It includes over 1,000 authoritative detailed entries on the philosophy, theory, key concepts, methods and practices of geographers. It also has biographies of notable geographers, and and essays on geographical thought and praxis in different parts of the world.
- Dictionary of Physical Geography
- SAGE Knowledge Encyclopedias
Find journal articles
Search the Omni, the library's main search box to find journal articles, books, etc. It searches everything in all our collections and databases. Refine your results by using the filters.
- Search GEOBASE, a subject-specific database, that covers all of human and physical geography literature and the environmental sciences. Remember to refine your results by using the filters on the left of the results screen.
- Use the Thesaurus in GEOBASE to help identify controlled vocabulary terms and find synonyms and related terms. It will improve your search strategy to use the suggested or narrower terms.
- Keep track of the keywords and other search terms you use in your searches to save time and effort.
Geography Journals:
The recommended journals to write your review essay is Progress in Human Geography or Progress in Physical Geography. These journals can be searched individually for review articles on your topic.
If you need help, use the Omni Search Tips for Journal Searching.
Other important titles:
Step by Step Instructions
1. Select keyword search terms for your topic
- Choose words that represent the key concepts of your research topic or question
2. Create a search string using Boolean operators (must be in CAPS when searching Omni but not necessary for most other databases)
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Omni sample search: "feminist geography" AND (perspective* OR viewpoint*)
- --> think of synonyms for each concept and groups synonyms with brackets using OR to connect them
- --> use AND operator to search multiple ideas and/or phrases
- --> use the truncation symbol * (asterisk) to replace word endings or variant spellings, ie: enviro*
- --> use quotation marks to ensure that words are searched together as a phrase
3. Select a Database from subject-specific databases for Geography
4. Use database filters to obtain high quality, academic literature, remember to refine your search by using the filters
Tip 1: Filter your search to find scholarly journal articles. Other sources, published in different formats include: newspapers or magazines or dissertations, etc. and are written for specific audiences
Tip 2: Follow the subject links in any book record on Omni to find books on similar topics. These words are part of a controlled vocabulary of pre-selected terms used to describe the contents of a book or journal articles
Tip 3: Check the bibliographies of journal articles to find additional relevant sources
Tip 4: If you are unsure if a journal is peer reviewed, check Ulrichsweb. It is the definitive source that lets you know what type of journal you are using by 'content type'
Literature Review Guides
- Conducting a Literature Review (Carleton University)
- Academic writing: What is a literature review? (Simon Fraser University)
- Literature Reviews (University of British Columbia)
Useful Books
Research Methods
- SAGE Research Methods - This database supports beginning and advanced researchers throughout a research project with a full range of qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods for the social and behavioral sciences. It also contains the methods core and video collections.
- Project Planner - This tool is designed to guide you through your research project. If you're just starting out, it might be helpful to read more about why we do research before getting started using this tool.
Useful Books
- Conducting Research in Human Geography: theory, methodology and practice
- Elementary Statistics for Geographers (online)
- Geographic thought: a critical introduction
- Geographic thought: a praxis perspective
- Methods in human geography: guide for students doing a research project
- Research methods in geography: a critical introduction
- The SAGE Handbook of spatial analysis (online)
