What is the scope and coverage of GeoRef?
Scope
GeoRef is a huge database from the American Geological Institute with over 2.6 million items covering geology, hydrogeology, hydrology, geophysics, oceanography, paleontology, economic geology, crystallography, engineering geology, geochemistry, mineralogy, marine geology and more.

GeoScienceWorld, from a group of leading geoscientific organizations, includes access to over 30 full text electronic journals (view list).

Coverage
Contains citations from 1795 to present for North America and 1933 to present for International journals. Coverage of full text journals varies, some back to 1920's.

How do I search for a journal article?
1.) QuickSearch
Enter your search terms or keywords in the QuickSearch "Keywords" box.  Use AND, OR to build your search, if needed. 
For example,
 
  -or-
Use quotes around keywords when searching for phrases.


Note: Make sure words are spelled correctly. Choose key terms and do not use sentences or questions (take out common words such as of, an, in, a, for, am, etc.).
Note: If you know the author's name (last name, first name) type it into the Author Quick Search box.

2.) Advanced Search

Use the advanced search for more complex searches. 
You can search by:

• article title
• journal name
• geographic region (coordinates)
• author affiliation
• meeting location if you are looking for conference proceedings.

If you are getting too many results you can limit your search by date, by language, by subject category or by specific document type (i.e. serial (journal), map, book).

How do I search for an article within a specific journal?

GeoScienceWorld easily allows you to select one of the full-text journals to search.  Just use the advanced search and scroll to the bottom of the screen and select the journal you wish to search.  If you would like to search a journal indexed by GeoRef, but not available on that list (e.g. Nature) you need to put the ISSN number of the journal in quotes as a keyword search term.  To find the ISSN try Googling the title and "ISSN"

So for Nature, put "0028-0836" and whatever other keywords you want to search, and that should bring you back articles just from that journal.

How can I change my results display?
Go to Advanced Search and scroll down to "Format Results."  You can change to a standard or condensed citation style, view 10, 25 or 50 results per page and sort by best match or newest first.  Also after you run your search these options are at the top of the "results" screen.

What is the truncation symbol?
The truncation symbol is the asterisk (*).  For example, irradiat* finds irradiate, irradiation, irradiated, irradiating. Use this to find more articles.

How do I get the full text of a journal article? (We do NOT have full text to all articles.)

1.) Click on Full Text or PDF for the article you are interested in.
Tip: If you are asked to "login" it means we do NOT have electronic full text.
Note: We do NOT have full text to all articles.

2.) If the article is not available electronically in GeoScienceWorld then search COAST, Journals using the "Journal title" to see if the Library has a subscription to the electronic or print version.

3.) If the Library does not have an electronic or print version of the journal, you can request the article using our online form in Illiad.  Note: It will take 5-10 days to get from Illiad and item is generally delivered electronically.

click on SFX to see if the article is available electronically full text in a different CSULB database.  If the SFX box includes a link that says Full text available via... click on the link. Check availability and the year of your citation to make sure it is available.

3.) If the SFX box includes the link Check for holdings in COAST, the CSULB Library Catalog it means we have the item in print.  Click on the link, find where the year of your citation is located in the library.  Copy down the call number and your citation information and go find the article in the Library.

4.) If the SFX box only says An electronic full text version is not available for this Item it means we do not have this journal.  To get this item, request using our online form in Illiad.  Note: It will take 5-10 days to get from Illiad and item is generally delivered electronically.

Note: We do NOT have full text to all articles.

Is there a thesaurus to help pick search terms?
Use the Browse features to find thesaurus terms. If the term is used as a descriptor by the database click on the hyperlinked term to find narrower, broader and related terms. Also after you have run your search the closest descriptor will appear on the right side of results screen. 
 
Note: If your terms are not listed, try a broader term.

How do I print citations? How do I print full text?
Select your citations by clicking on the box left of each citation. When you are finished, click the Go button next to "view abstracts in a new window."  When the new window opens use the Browser and select File>Print.

If your article is available in Full text, click on Full Text or PDF (what is the difference?).  To view the PDF you must have Adobe Reader.

Click on Full Text, PDF or Abstract to the right off the article you are interested in. You will then see the Journal Article menu and Journal Services menu.  Using these features you can get an email when the article is cited, when a correction is posted, when a new issue of the journal is available.  You can also use these features to email the citation and abstract or the full text to yourself or a friend. Simply click on "Email this article to a friend" and enter your own email.


What are some related resources for my research?
Databases
General Science Abstracts
Applied Science and Technology Abstracts
Web of Science

Research Guides
Geology
Engineering
Geography and Cartography