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GEOE 345: Site Investigation & Geological Engineering Design

Geological Survey Publications

Check country and provincial/state geological survey websites for reports, articles, data and maps.  For example:

Judging Reliability

Journals may or may not be peer-reviewed.  To be certain, look up the journal title in Ulrichsweb.

Journal Abbreviations

Depending on a citation style, journal titles may be abbreviated.  Find a journal's full title and abbreviation. (From the Woodward Library, University of British Columbia.)

What is a technical report?

  • Technical reports describe the progress or results of scientific or technical research.
  • Usually issued in numbered series by government agencies (watch for changing agency names), university departments or corporations.
  • Found in print, online, or in microform - search Omni.  Ask library staff for assistance if you need microfiche or microfilm.
  • Found online in various repositories.  These reports may NOT be indexed by Google – you need to search each repository’s site.  E.g. NRC’s Publications Archive
  • May be “unpublished”.  For example,

Williams, D.A. and Trotter, RJ., 1984. Preliminary hydrogeological investigation of Prince Edward County: Phase I. Geology. Prince Edward Conservation Authority, unpublished.

The PECA was subsumed by Quinte Conservation.  QC was contacted directly to see if they had a copy (they did).

Databases and Repositories

Ei Compendex is the world's most comprehensive engineering literature database.

As of 2016, it contained more than 20 million references dating back to 1884. Compendex currently indexes more than 4,000 journals and trade magazines, dozens of book series, thousands of conference proceedings, dissertations and theses. More than one million new records are added each year. Each record is indexed using terms from the Engineering Index Thesaurus.

GEOSCAN Database Canadian resource
Comprises more than 45 000 records of publications released by Canada Centre for Remote Sensing (CCRS) or Geological Survey of Canada (GSC) authors.  (more info)