FS 520: Posing Research Questions

• Lisa Ganio
• Contact Info:
  
  Instructor's Website

Consistency is the rule of thumb in creating a bibliography. To this end, there are several style guides available and you can learn more about these from the library's page on Style and Citation Guides.   One approach is to select a journal of note in your field and follow the instructions given for authors writing for that journal.   To locate these, look for a link to information or instructions for authors on the journal's website or on the cover pages of the most recent issue.   Since you will be citing some articles from the web, be sure to note their instructions about how to do this.

You may want to plan to use EndNote to organize bibliographic sources and format them for specific publications the library provides beginning and advanced workshops on this software several times during the year.  this software is not free, but may pay for itself in saved time.

The Valley Library subscribes to several databases which index peer-reviewed scientific journal articles relevant to natural resource issues and topics.   The process of "peer-review" (sometimes called "refereeing") is discipline and journal specific.   It is intended to assure that the articles in that journal represent good scientific methodology and are 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 in ths guide will index a high percentage of "refereed" journals and therefore contain very high percentage of peer reviewed articles. They may also include first hand reporting of research findings or state-of-the-art reviews from other reporting sources such as federal agency reports, dissertations, conference proceedings, professional journals, etc.   All of these may prove useful resources for framing and addressing your research question.

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, scientific magazines, conference proceedings
• Dates of coverage

This is usually available in the short descriptions available on the database listing indicated by an .  It is tempting to limit yourself to indexes that provide a lot of full-text coverage but you do this at your own risk.  The point of indexes is to show you what is available and if it is not available here at OSU, the library will do everything it can to borrow what you need from another library. 

Here are some suggestions for databases to search.  Links will take you to the appropriate page of the database listing, but not to the database itself.  The list is in alphabetic order.  

• Agricola (use EBSCOHost Version) 1970-date
  Important index for all areas of agriculture research and extension. Indexes the holdings (including many journals) of the US National Agriculture Library.  The EBSCOHost platform also provides access to a homegrown database Academic Search Premier that you may find useful but not as comprehensive as the others listed here.
• Biological Abstracts/BIOSIS 1990-date
  Important index for all areas of biological research. Indexes conference proceedings as well as primary research journals. Note: Unless you are investigating terminology to use, before searching, uncheck the box for "Map Terms to Subject Headings."
• Environmental Sciences and Pollution Management 1967-date
  Indexes a wide variety of literature related to the environment. Include Environmental Impact Statements.
• Forest Science 1939-date
  Indexes the peer-reviewed journals and agency report literature of all aspects of forestry and forest science; has a strong international perspective, but covers North America well. Considered by many the ultimate forestry database.  The "parent" database to this is CAB Abstracts. It indexes all aspects of Agriculture and Forestry including economic and social issues from a research perspective.
• Science.gov [2004]-date
  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]-date
  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 (includes the Science Citation Index) 1996-date
  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 is to see who has cited core primary sources. The assumption is that authors of later works are working on similar research. If you do not already know everyone doing research in your area, this can be a way to break into their "invisible college."
• Wildlife Ecology Studies Worldwide 1935-date
  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.   A complementary database from the same provider, with a similar search interface is Fish and Fisheries Worldwide. Use these databases if your topic of study includes a need to investigate habitat.

NOTE: These databases each have "help" or "search tips" screens which will answer most of your questions n the mechanics of searching.  If you need a quick review on search strategy try this exercise.

1. Get This Item: Many of the databases listed above contain a button called "Get This Item" or "Webbridge."   Using this link will open a window with links to the library catalog and to the e-journal list so you can investigate the availability of the source journal.  In the ideal case, it will result in a direct link to the full-text of the article.
2. E-Journal list: If you have a reference and want to see if OSU Libraries subscribes to the electronic version of that journal (or some service that provides the full-text from that journal), click the E-Journals link on the Library's home page and type in the name of the journal that you need. If the article you need is not available from the E-Journals list, then try the catalog.
3. Online Catalog: Search the online catalog (limit to "journals") to see if the library has a paper copy of the journal. You can then photocopy the article. Most bound journals circulate for three days. Unbound journals do not circulate outside the library.
4. ** If you choose, you can try a Google Advanced Search.   It is best to search the title of the article as an exact phrase). This is a long shot so if it doesn't work immediately, a better use of you time is checking to see if the library has the journal in some format and if not, filling out the interlibrary loan request form. If you decide to post your own articles to the web, be sure that you know what copyright restrictions apply by contacting the publisher. When this is allowed, it is more often the case that you are allowed post the pre-formated version (of your own articles only) but not the final journal formated version.
5. As a graduate student, you should expect that OSU Libraries will not subscribe to or own every journals you need. You will need to use Interlibrary loan to obtain the articles.

You can get a copy of any journal article not available at OSU Libraries by using Interlibrary Loan (ILL).  This service is free to you.

You must have an ONID account to register for ILL.  From the OSU Libraries catalog, look for the link to Interlibrary Loan  and select "Log on for ILL Service."  Consider registering now, before you actually need to request an article.

We are able to obtain the majority of requested articles within 5-7 days depending on the number of libraries owning the journal.   Some requests take more time some take less.  On the rare occasion that the Library is unable to identify a lending library, we will try to get the information you will need to contact the author directly. 

Articles usually come as PDF files that are to sent you via a secure website for your use.  You can also use ILL to request books (or chapters of books) if you are unable to locate then in the Summit catalog.

• FS 520 acquaints beginning graduate students in the natural resources to the scientific method and formation of good researchable questions.

Be sure you can locate the the OSU Libraries Home Page and from there find these three links

• OSU Libraries Catalog
• Databases
• E-Journals

Also look for the links to "Browse by subject" (see the navigation bar to the left).  You may find these and other library guides helpful:

• Fisheries and Wildlife
• Forestry
• Genetics
• Government Information
• Maps
• Soil Science
• US Forest Service Publications

You will need to be familiar with where things are on the first and second floors -- to do this, use the  floormaps  (http://osulibrary.oregonstate.edu/ locations/valley.html).

A word to the wise:, the first floor, which houses most forestry material, seems complicated at first. On this floor we house older volumes of journals in "compact shelving" on the North side. Journals volumes from 1990 through last year are shelved with the books on the South side. The current year of print journals are unbound in display shelving in the Southeast corner.

Many if not most online databases were preceded by a print index.  Some of these go back one hundred or more years.  While you can do a good deal of retrospective searching using the bibliographies in articles you should be aware that the library houses many of the classic print indexes for the sciences.  Should you need help locating these, let me know. 

It is common for people to prefer electronic copies of journal articles as they are portable and seemingly easy to share with others.  You should be aware that unless the copyright holder specifically states that you have permission to share their article via the web or distribute it, you are likely in violation of their copyrights.  Unless the author specifically retained his/her copyright for a published article, more than likely it is the journal that has the copyright on that article.  In most cases the publishers are making a good deal of money licensing electronic access to the articles in the journals they publish.   So not surprisingly they will not want to find you have posted it on the web for free.

When the library gets articles from you via Interlibrary Loan, it pays copyright fees for your use of that item and if someone else requests the same article, that incurs a second copyright transaction fee. 

The general exception to this is that employees of the federal government (notably the US Forest Service) cannot copyright or transfer copyright of their work.  Likewise a growing number of journals are "open access" (free to the user). 

Currently there is a push by several american publishers to fight open access to US government science and medical research under the guise of fighting governmental censorship.   Click here for more information.

Theses and dissertations written by students at OSU will appear in the online catalog (and in Summit).  They are housed in the library under the general call number LD4330 and then grouped by year and then by author last name.  Since 2006, theses and dissertations are submitted electronically to the ScholarsArchive@OSU with a link in the catalog.  If you add the term "theses" to any keyword search in the catalog you will get theses and dissertations on that subject (or by that author) -- but only those from OSU.  

Dissertation Abstracts International is a database that indexes PhD dissertations and some theses worldwide.  For those not in Summit, you would need to use interlibrary loan  ("request a thesis"). 

Masters theses are often only cataloged by the local library but you can use WorldCat to identify these or for those written between 1900 and 1992 in the U.S. you could use the 7 volume work "Forestry theses accepted by colleges and universities in the United State "  created by some dedicated OSU librarians of years past (these are available as pdf files).   

We purchase access to indexing databases in order for you to identify articles on specific topics. They are independent of the holdings of any one library.

To search these databases and thus, locate research articles in journals, start on the OSU Libraries home page at http://osulibrary.oregonstate.edu, click on "Databases," and then on the first letter for the name of the database you want.

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 a username nor a 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.