FOR 445: Ecological Restoration (Reed)

By the second week, try to find at least two or three articles in research journals or relevant government agency reports related to the site you propose to select.

1. In the process of looking for even two good references, you will:
   • acquire terminology to use in your subsequent searches as well as a feel for which databases will be of most help to you.
   • learn a lot about the process and pitfalls of locating material while the stakes are relatively low.
   • have a better idea of who is writing or has done research on your site and which articles they have cited. This will take you back in time.
2. 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.
3. You will have begun acquiring a good deal of information you can use in preparing a draft statement of background.

As you continue to investigate the background information needed 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 complete most of this literature review at least 2 weeks before writing your draft so that

1. if you are not in Corvallis, items from the library can be sent to you, and
2. 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.

• 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.
• Biological Abstracts/BIOSIS 1990-
  Important index for all areas of biological research. Indexes conference proceedings as well as primary research journals. Note: Before searching, uncheck the box for Map Terms to Subject Headings (does not apply to this database).
• Environmental Sciences and Pollution Management (ESPM) 1967-
  Indexes a wide variety of literature related to the environment. Include Environmental Impact Statements.
• 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.
• Geobase 1980-
  Index to worldwide literature on geology, geography and ecology.
• Illinois Researcher Information Service (IRIS) Current
  IRIS currently contains over 8,000 active federal and private funding opportunities in the sciences, social sciences, arts, and humanities. Users can search IRIS by sponsor, deadline date, keyword, and other criteria. Most IRIS records contain live links to sponsor Web sites, electronic forms, or Electronic Research Administration (ERA) portals. The IRIS Database is updated daily.
• Science.gov [2004]-
  Science.gov is a new "gateway to authoritative selected science information provided by U.S. Government agencies, including research and development results." When you are not sure which agency may have done current research on a topic this will be a good search service to try.
• TreeSearch 1997-
  Indexes research report series published by the US Forest Service and provides full-text of most major USFS reports series from at least 1997 forward. 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.
  
• Wildlife and Ecology Studies Worldwide 1935-
  Indexes agency reports as well as peer reviewed journals. Note: Mac Users are unable to use this database. We are looking into, but have not received a good explanation for this.

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 selected site and the issues that need to be considered in its restoration.

Keyword searching:

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

Controlled vocabularies:

• Some databases (e.g. Forest Science, 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: forest* will retrieve forest, forests, forestry, etc.)

Search Strategy:

• Try this exercise.