FOR 346: Topics in Wildland Fire (Reed)

Know the resources available to you. If you have not used the resources available via the OSU Libraries recently, be sure to read this page during the first two weeks of classes and if appropriate, review Library Services for OSU Extended Campus Students . Remember, even if you are not in Corvallis, you can take full advantage of the library's resources including:

• Use of the OSU Libraries catalog to see what books and reports are available on your topic in Corvallis and request electronically.
• Use of the "Summit" catalog to see what books and reports are available on your topic in Oregon/Washington and request them electronically.
• Use of the research oriented databases to locate scholarly writings on your topic and,
  • if available, access these articles directly as pdf files or,
  • if available in paper at OSU, request a copy of the article be sent to you, or
  • if unavailable at OSU, request an "interlibrary loan" so that you will receive the article from another library.

By the third week, begin with a small research assignment. Try to find at least two or three articles in research journals related to your topic of choice before turning in your topic and outline (week three). One of these can be used to for the peer-reviewed journal article citation and abstract (week 4).

• In the process of looking for even two good references, you will acquire a lot of information about terminology to use in your search and about which databases will be of most help to you.
• You will be able to get a good idea of who is writing or has done research on your topic from the authors and the references they use. This will take you back in time.
• If you find a really great article, you can use the unique cited search feature of the "Web of Science" database to find out if anyone has cited that article since it was written. This will bring you forward in time.

Use multiple resources. Google is useful but it is only one tool. Library databases may take more effort, but they will also result in a better final product. That said, try to have most of your "literature review" done at least 2 weeks before you plan to write your rough draft so that

• if you are not in Corvallis, items from the library can be sent to you, and
• regardless of your location, if you need to request items via Summit or via interlibrary loan you must allowed time for the request to be processed and the item retrieved and sent to you via the mail if it cannot be sent electronically.

Your questions are always welcome but in general, the sooner, the better. Contact information is at the top of this page.

Based on the above criteria and your assignment here are some suggestions for databases to search. These are in alphabetical order and the links provided will take you to the appropriate page of the database list, not to the database itself.

• Academic Search Premier 1975-
  Indexes both peer reviewed ("academic") and popular literature on a wide variety of fields. This is a database to try if you are unfamiliar with searching, but like Google, consider it a beginning point, not an end point. Many articles are available in full-text or as pdf.
• Environmental Sciences and Pollution Management 1967-
  Indexes a wide variety of literature related to the environment. Include Environmental Impact Statements.  You will need to select this database from the list at the CSA website. 
• Forest Science 1939-
  Indexes the peer-reviewed and agency report literature of Forestry from an international perspective, but covers North America well. Considered by many the ultimate Forestry Database. Currently the search interface is slow but the content is excellent.
• EV Komarek Fire Ecology Database   1987- Indexes the Tall Timbers Fire Ecology Conference as well as other articles.  Be sure to try you terms in the "abstract field" first. Not a full-text database.
• TreeSearch 1997-
  Indexes research report series published by the US Forest Service and as of 2004, includes the full-text of all peer reviewed research published by authors employed by the USFS.
• Web of Science (Science Citation Index and Social Sciences Citation Index) 1996-
  Indexes the major peer-reviewed journals in all fields of science. Represents core life science journals defined as those most often cited in peer-reviewed research articles. Searchable by topic, author, journal name, cited author, and cited journal.
  One way to use Science Citation Index to help you with this term paper is to see who might have cited the papers listed under Suggested Topics in the course information. The assumption is that these later authors would be working on similar research.
• Wildlife & Ecology Studies Worldwide 1935-
  Indexes agency reports as well as peer reviewed journals. Note: Mac Users may be unable to use this database.

These databases all have accessible Help screens that provide tips and advice for effective searching.

Once you have done a search in one or all of these databases you should have a list of articles which are potentially relevant to your topic.

Keyword searching:

• Most databases are very literal.
• If you search for "biodiversity" but an article only refers to the term "biological diversity" you will not get that article.
• So, thinking about your topic and generating useful search terms is your first stepimportant.

Controlled vocabularies:

• Some databases (e.g. CAB Abstracts, library catalogs) have a "controlled vocabulary" (a thesaurus).
• If available, this is database feature is useful because it provides a consistent way to retrieve references to books and articles on a topic that may have many terms all referring to the same concept.

Combine terms using the Boolean Operators AND/OR /NOT:

• AND narrows your search (fewer results)
• OR broadens your search (more results)
• NOT removes a word that connotes the wrong context (unpredictable results) 
• If you have words that express different concepts use an AND
• If you need a variety of words to get at the same concept, use an OR

Truncation or Wildcards:

• Most databases allow for a symbol (often a  *  ) to be used at the end of a word stem so that you don't have to type all the variant endings of that word.
• This is known as a truncation symbol.
• The symbols used for truncation may be different from one database to another.
• Use the database's help menu to see what truncation symbol to use.
  (Example: biodivers* will retrieve biodiversity and biodiverse etc.)

These databases all have accessible Help screens that provide tips and advice for effective searching. In general problems in searching are in three areas:

1. I can't find anything on my topic.
   • This may happen if you are trying to limit your search to a geographic region. Consider if the techniques or species you are interested in are unique to that region, in which case adding "oregon" or "africa" or "Zimbabwe" may be unnecessary.
   • Do you have an idea based on fact (your text, readings, instructor, etc.) that there is a lot written on this topic? If so, you may need to broaden your approach to searching. If you are using phrases like "hedgerows in farming systems" consider changing this to "hedgerows AND farming systems" -- the difference is that you are not requiring the exact phrase.
   • In general, use truncation (usually by adding an asterisk, "*" to the root of a word, like "biodivers*" to get both biodiversity/biodiverse.
   • If you have words that are synonyms (the common name and scientific name of a tree species for instance) use an "OR" rather than "and" to join them.
2. I have too much on my topic, and all of it is seems relevant.
   • If you use a database with abstracts you can do a lot of culling of articles and select those you want to read more carefully. Allow time for this culling and for the reading.
   • "Too much" may be an indicator that your topic is too broad and you may want to narrow it. To do this add in a new concept.
   • It is likely, however that there is a lot written on most topics, so consider evaluating your sources for quality: how many of these resources are from the "peer reviewed" literature? do you have a representation of researchers findings?
3. My search gives me too much and it doesn't seem relevant.
   • This is a good indication that your search terms are too broad.
   • Be sure that you are using the most specific terminology available.
   • You may need some help with your search, contact me.

1. For more information on maps in general use the library Maps research guide http://osulibrary.oregonstate.edu/research/
   guides/maps/maproom.htm
2. For Forest Geodata in particular use Forest Service Geodata Clearinghouse
   http://fsgeodata.fs.fed.us/
3. The Forest Geodata site includes MODIS Active Fire Mapping Program
   http://activefiremaps.fs.fed.us/
4. In addition to the databases mentioned above you can use Google Scholar to limit a Google search to "scholarly" references (this is a broader category than "peer reviewed"). When using this tool, keep in mind that you can make no assumptions about subject "scope" and so you will find something on everything, though it may not be the something you need. As with all Google searching, it is very fast. Google Scholar can be quite useful for locating items published to the web, but the rules regarding access remain the same, it OSU Libraries has an electronic subscription to the journal cited, you will likely be able to link to the full-text, if you cannot, then be sure to double check the OSU Libraries catalog to see if it is available to you in print instead. This link is to the "advanced search" form of Google Scholar:
   National Wildland Fire Coordinating Group (NWFCG) Wildland Fire Education Working Committee
   http://www.nwcg.gov/teams/wfewt/biblio/ecology1.html
5. Oregon Department of Forestry: Fire Programs
   http://www.odf.state.or.us/DIVISIONS/
   protection/fire_protection/default.asp?id=20701
6. For locating federal agencies doing current research on a topic, try Science.gov. This is a new gateway to authoritative selected science information provided by U.S. government -- including research and development results.
   http://www.science.gov/
7. US Forest Service sponsored, Fire Effects Information System
   http://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/index.html
8. US Geological Service sponsored Western Ecological Research Center (WERC)
   http://www.werc.usgs.gov/
9. Tall Timbers Research Organization: Fire Ecology
   http://www.ttrs.org/research/fireeco.htm
10. UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) sponsored website on Forestry and Fire
    http://www.fao.org/forestry/site/3444/en
11. From the FAO site look for regional centers e.g. Regional SubSaharan Wildland Fire Network
    http://www.fire.uni-freiburg.de/GlobalNetworks/Africa/Afrifirenet.html