Research Guides: MEERL Program Library Guide : Finding Articles

Engineering & Science Librarian

Maggie Gordon

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Contact:

Douglas Library
Room 519

613 533-3255

Subjects: Biology, Environmental Studies, Geological Sciences

Finding Articles

Peer-reviewed journal articles are important scientific communication tools. The peer-review publication process helps to ensure that the research findings are trustworthy, accurate, and of value to the field. They often contain the first reports of new research and sometimes contain literature review summaries of past research conducted on a topic that is of current interest.

Flow of Scientific Information
This chart visualizes the creation process of scientific information, beginning from the first idea or hypothesis through each different type of research output (article, conference proceeding, monograph, handbook, etc.).

TIP: Start your search with some of the multidisciplinary databases like Scopus or Web of Science as they likely already cover many of the journals located in the subject-specific databases.

Start Searching

Scopus
Scopus is the largest abstract and citation database, including peer-reviewed titles from international publishers, Open Access journals, conference proceedings, trade publications, quality web sources.
Web of Science
A large, multidisciplinary database, Web of Science provides access to bibliographic information, author abstracts, and cited references from scholarly journals and conference proceedings. A cited reference search enables you to find articles that cite a previously published work.

GeoRef
Established by the American Geological Institute (AGI) in 1966, GeoRef indexes over several thousand journals in 40 languages as well as books, maps, reports, most U.S. Geological Survey publications, and American and Canadian masters and doctoral theses.
GEOBASE
GEOBASE consists of the latest information on the earth sciences, ecology, geology, human and physical geography, and environmental sciences, focusing on, and highlighting, the human and social impacts on both.
It covers 3+ million abstract records, providing a comprehensive geological evaluation of any desired region. This includes geological structure and relation to natural resources, as well as linking management, transport, and urban planning.
GEOSCAN
GEOSCAN is the bibliographic database for scientific publications of Natural Resources Canada (NRCan). It contains over 90,000 publication records of the earth sciences (Geological Survey of Canada, National Atlas, Topographic maps, Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation, Remote Sensing and Geodesy, and Surveyor General), and is continually growing with records on energy efficiency, metals, minerals and mining.
SEG Digital Library
The SEG Digital Library provides a single access point and interface consistency for the Society of Exploration Geophysicists' two journals, its meeting abstracts, and its best-selling encyclopedic dictionary. Coverage includes a complete archive all technical articles published in GEOPHYSICS, THE LEADING EDGE, and the SEG Technical Program Expanded Abstracts.
Lyell Collection - Geological Society of London Publications
The Lyell Collection represents one of the largest integrated collections of online Earth science literature available with >18,000 articles. Images and datasets are also available.
AGU Digital Library
The American Geophysical Union Digital Library includes journals spanning a wide range of topics in earth and space sciences.

Business Source Premier
Business database with thousands of sources, including scholarly journals, trade magazines, company and industry news and reports. Includes electronic full text of the Harvard Business Review.
Canadian Business & Current Affairs Database
Canadian magazines, scholarly journals, news and wire feeds and Canada focused articles spanning business, education, current affairs; also agriculture, economics, government and politics, health sciences, history, literature, medical sciences, social sciences, and many more subject areas.
Emerald
Currently offers 120 peer-reviewed journals from 24 management disciplines such as Marketing, Managing Quality, and Information and Knowledge Management and access to a growing collection from approximately 100 book series titles. Features content from many fields including strategy, economics, accounting and finance, education, and human resource management.
Factiva
Currently offers access to a growing collection from approximately 100 book series titles. Features content from many fields including strategy, economics, accounting and finance, education, and human resource management.
IBISWorld
Canadian, U.S. and global industry sector research reports. Search by keyword or browse by sector. Reports include competitors, SWOT, market size and growth statistics.
Covering over 700+ industries, each report consists of 30-40 pages of key statistics and analysis on market characteristics, operating conditions, performance (current & forecast), competitive landscape and more. Search for industries by keyword(s) or browse a list of industries by five-digit North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes.

Looking for something else?

You can browse all databases that QUL subscribes to by subject from the QUL website.

Omni

Use Omni to search the library's catalogue for books, articles, videos, maps, government documents, music, data sets, open access materials, and more. You can discover materials that are not available at Queen's but that you can freely request either within Omni or through interlibrary loan.

How to Read a Scientific Paper

How to Read a Scientific Paper
An overview of and infographic illustrating how to read a scientific paper.
Anatomy of a Scholarly Article (NCSU Libraries)

Where's the Article?

If the full-text is not available in the database, click on the Get It @ Queen's button to see if the article is available electronically (either from a journal or another database) or in print.

If the article is not available, you can request a copy using Interlibrary Loans. It's free!