This guide is designed for masters students in the interdisciplinary graduate program in Northern Studies in the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies.
Reference material
- Encyclopedia of the Arctic
- Exploring Polar Frontiers: a historical encyclopedia
- Historical Dictionary of the Inuit
- International Encyclopedia of Human Geography
Fulltext eBook collections
Recommended books
- Breaking Ice: renewable resource and ocean management in the Canadian North
- Canada and Arctic North America: an environmental history
- Canadian Arctic contaminants assessment report III - 2012: mercury in Canada's north
- Herschel Island: a natural and cultural hisotry of Yukon's arctic island
- The Future History of the Arctic
- The Inuit and Northern experience
Help Guides
If you cannot find the material you need, you can get books and articles from other libraries via Interlibray Loans. You must set up a RACER account to submit interlibrary loan requests.
Search Summon to find peer-reviewed journal articles on any topic. Remember to refine your search by selecting the following options: Scholarly & Peer-Review, Journal Article and Discipline to obtain high quality, academic literature.
You can also limit your search to many other source types in Summon, such as books/e-books, newspapers, magazines, trade publications, videos, dissertations or conference proceedings. Please note that while many sources are published in different formats and written for specific audiences, they do not have solid authority as with the scholarly, peer reviewed literature.
Subject specific Databases
- GEOBASE
- Arctic Science and Technology Information System
- Bibliography of Native North Americans
- Environment Index
- SPRILIB Ice and Snow
Interdisciplinary Databases
- Scopus
- Web of Science
- Google Scholar - performs broad searches for academic sources which can include free sources not available in other databases.
Theses and Dissertations
- Dissertations and Theses Global - Theses and dissertations from around the world, beginning in 1743.
- Dissertations and Theses@Carleton - Theses and dissertations produced at Carleton.
- CURVE - includes Carleton theses and dissertations, as well as other research deposited by faculty, staff, and students.
Help Guides
- Cited Reference Searching
- Finding Journal articles
- Finding Journal articles from citations
- Journal rankings
- Search Alerts
Searching for Grey Literature - this web page explains the importance of grey literature and where to find it.
Government Information for northern studies
Canada - Federal:
- Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency
- Canadian Polar Commission (archived 2015)
- Canadian Research Index
- Environment and Climate Change Canada
- Global Affairs Canada
- Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada
- Natural Resources Canada
- Northern Contaminants Program
Canada - Provincial:
Useful Websites
If you are just beginning your research, try browsing through ArcticNet, a web site that brings together scientists and managers in the natural, human health and social sciences with their partners from Inuit organizations, northern communities, federal and provincial agencies and the private sector to study the impacts of climate change in the coastal Canadian Arctic.
Another excellent resource are the publications of the Centre for the North which is an initiative of the Conference Board of Canada. It's goal is to bring Aboriginal leaders, businesses, governments and community advocates together to identify challenges and opportunitites.
- ACUNS - Association of Canadian Universities for Northern Studies
- Alaska and Polar Periodical Index
- AMAP - Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme
- Arctic Council
- Arctic Institute of North America
- Arctic Research Consortium of the United States
- Arctic Studies Center – Smithsonian Institution
- CARC - Canadian Arctic Resources Committee
- Conference of Arctic Parliamentarians
- International Arctic Science Committee
- International Union of Circumpolar Health
- Inuit Circumpolar Council of Canada
- Nunavut Research Institute
- PolarInfo Database
- Scott Polar Research Institute
Data and Statistics
- Arctic Ice Sea Graphs
- Canadian Cryospheric Information Network
- GeoData Center - Geophysical Institute
- Polar Data Catalogue
- Arctic Stat
- Statistics Canada
- Northwest Territories Bureau of Statistics
- Nunavut Bureau of Statistics
- Yukon Bureau of Statistics
See also the library's full list of surveys.
Maps and Atlases
- Arctic Bay Atlas e-resource
- Arctic Environmental Atlas e-resource
- GCRC Atlases - Geomatics and Cartographic Research Centre, Carleton University
- NRCan - The North
- Pan Inuit Trails atlas e-resource
See also the library's curated online map collection.
GIS
See also the library's GIS web page.
Thesis & Dissertation Writing Guides:
- Mapping your thesis; the comprehensive manual of theory and techniques for masters and doctoral research
- How to do your dissertation in geography and related disciplines
- Research literacies and writing pedagogies for masters and doctoral writers
General Writing Guides for Geography:
- Communicating in geography and environmental sciences
- Making Sense; a student's guide to research and writing: geography and environmental sciences
Literature Review Writing Guides:
- The literature review : a step-by-step guide for students
- Conducting research literature reviews: from the Internet to paper
Citation Managment Tools:
There are many free citation or document management systems available. The library provides support for Mendeley, Zotero and EndNote Basic. Consult the Citation Management web page for more information. Attend a workshop that demonstrates the common features of these tools. Send an email to citation@library.carleton.ca to register for a workshop, or arrange for one-on-one consultation.
Citing Your Sources:
The library's Citing Your Sources web page is a comprehensive list of the many online citing resources for the major academic styles. Help with citation is also available at the Research Help Desk or at Writing Services.
Just need a few resources to get you started? Try the Northern Studies Quick Guide.
