FOR 356: Recreation Resource Planning

Theory and function of recreation resource planning. Techniques for collection, storage, analysis and display of planning data. Practice in use of recreation planning models.

1. Articulate a comprehensive definition of planning.
2. Assess different models for decision making that are referred to as planning.
3. Articulate the basic structure of integrated natural resource planning, ecosystem management planning, and the place of recreation in these forms of planning.
4. Integrate supply and demand in formulating recreation management plans.
5. Develop a management plan for a tract of land, with consideration of the relationship between people and resources in planning and design processes.
6. Apply informed and critical analysis to contemporary planning issues.
7. Critically evaluate planning problems and find workable solutions.

• Use the OSU Libraries catalog to see what books and reports are available on your topic.
• Use the "Summit" catalog to see what books and reports are available on your topic in Oregon/Washington and request them electronically if needed.
• Use 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.

1. try to locate one or more of the items listed in the bibliography of references at the end of that article.
   • This is taking you back in time from the original article.
   • Recall that it is the journal title (not the title of the article) that is needed to identify the location of an item in the library.
2. Next you might want to try the reverse strategy and see who has cited one of these articles since it was written.
   • To do this, use the cited reference feature of the Web of Science database.
   • This brings you forward in time;
   • In general, the more an article is cited, the greater its "impact" is considered to be;
   • If an article continues to be cited over a long period of time (decades) it may be considered part of the "core" literature for that field.
   • Of course it will be difficult to assess the long term impact of an article that has only been in print for a few years.

• Your extensive class reading list is a place to begin.
• GoogleScholar is useful but it is only one tool.
• Library databases may take more effort, but they will also result in a better final product. Among other things, they usually have abstracts that can help you decide if an article will be useful before reading it.

The Library purchases access to "indexing" databases in order for you to identify articles on specific topics. These databases are independent of the holdings of any one library.

To locate references to articles in the scientific literature using these databases, begin at the OSU Libraries home page: http://osulibrary.oregonstate.edu. Click on "Databases," and then on the first letter of the name of the database you want to use.  Because they are not all provided on the same web "platform" you cannot (with a few exceptions) search across several databases as once.

Most databases are not freely available to the public.   They are licensed to the library for OSU use.  If you are not on campus, you will encounter our "proxy server" asking you to "authenticate" yourself as a qualified OSU user by entering your name and (new) OSU ID number.  Apart from this, you should never be asked for an username and password while attempting to use a database.   If you are asked for one, this is usually an indication that the ports are busy.  Just try again later.

The Valley Library has several databases which index peer-reviewed journals relevant to topics in natural resource management and the social sciences including Recreation Research. The process of "peer-review" (sometimes called "refereeing") is discipline and journal specific. It assures that the articles which are published in these journals represent good scientific methodology and can be regarded as a contribution to the literature of that field of study. If in doubt about whether a journal contains peer reviewed articles, ask.

Most databases noted here index a high percentage of "refereed" journals and therefore a high percentage of peer reviewed articles. They may also include first hand reporting of research findings or state-of-the-art reviews from other sources such as federal agency reports, dissertations, conference proceedings, professional journals, etc. All of these may prove useful resources for your topic, though because this is a research methods course, you will want to place a high value on finding "peer reviewed" references.

When considering a database, it is important to be aware of its content including:

• Subject coverage
• Types of publications indexed in the database e.g., research journals, popular magazines, conference proceedings, government documents, etc.
• Dates of coverage

 All databases have accessible help pages that provide tips and advice for effective searching. Once you have done a search in one or more databases you should have a list of articles which are potentially relevant to your project topic.

Follow the "read more" link below for suggestions of databases to use for locating research findings in the field of Recreation.

• Read More...