FE 456: International Forestry
Team Project (25% of Grade)
PURPOSE: The purpose of this project is threefold:
- to cause you to think and write carefully about some specific aspect related to international forestry,
- to give you practice in searching the literature for reliable information on international forestry, and
- to learn to work in a multidisciplinary team
For guidelines on content, citing sources and due dates, follow the "read more" link below.
Topic Ideas
Click on "read more" below to see listing of suggested topics ideas. Those selected by this year's groups are in red.
Natural Resources Librarian
- Librarian: Bonnie Avery
- Office Location: The Valley Library (Email or Call: 7-7602)
- Office Hours: By Appointment
- Email: Click to reveal email
Plan ahead!
Use the three deadlines noted above to your advantage and start your research early. Here is one approach you might take.
- 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 week of classes. Plan to take full advantage of the library's resources, these include:
- 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.
- During the second week review the list of project topics and/or have an idea what topic you (your group) would like to investigate.
- By the beginning of the third week (April 14), begin with a small research assignment:
- Try to find at least three articles (in journals) or chapters (in books) related to the topic you hope to write on.
- Use these articles to come up with the 3-5 questions you need to turn in that Friday (April 18).
- This process of looking for two or three good references, will provide you with a lot of information including:
- useful terminology,
- useful databases
- people and organizations that may do research your topic,
- If you have difficulty locating information on your topic or questions in general, jot them down and bring them to class on Friday (April 25) when you meet with me, Bonnie Avery.
- Meanwhile, remember to 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.
- Plan to complete your "literature review" searching 2 weeks before you write your rough draft (May 9). This way you will have time in case you need to request something via Summit or via interlibrary loan you will have time (allow at least 3 days for Summit; 5 days for Interlibrary Loan).
- Your questions are always welcome. In general the sooner you ask them, the better. Contact information is at the end of this page.
Selecting databases for International Forestry
Once you know how to "access" a database, the next step is to decide which one(s) to use. When considering this, 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. - Business Source Premier (1980 - date) Try this database if your topic has an economic or business aspect to it.
- 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. - Web of Science (includes the Science Citation Index) 1970-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.
These databases each have "help" or "search tips" screens which will answer most of your questions n the mechanics of searching.
Click on "read more" below if you need a quick review of search tips.
Websites to consider
Consider these websites as one of many tools. If you use information from these or other websites in your paper, be sure to cite the source appropriately. Listed below are websites that you may find useful for other reasons.
- For an interesting overview of articles related to the non-wood/non-timber uses for forests take a look at FAO's Non-Wood Forest Products website. Look for the link to Non-Wood News.
http://www.fao.org/forestry/site/6366/en - For a searchable catalog of websites related to Agriculture and Forestry try BIOME's AGRIFOR
http://agrifor.ac.uk/ - For more information on maps, use the library Maps research guide
http://osulibrary.oregonstate.edu/research/guides/maps/maproom.htm - For more information on how to site sources, one option is the Council of Biological Editors (CBE) Guidelines (one option),
http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/online/cite8.html
Click on "read more" below if you want to review the list of websites listed in your class syllabus.
Accessing Library Databases
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 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.
Obtaining journal articles from OSU Libraries
When you find a reference to an article but are asked to pay for it (maybe you tried Google Scholar), be sure to try the library first.
- Get This Item: Many of the databases listed in this help sheet 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. But if it doesn't...
- 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...
- 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. If that fails... and you have a week before you must have the article, try interlibrary loan.
Interlibrary Loans (ILL)
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. Articles usually come as PDF files that are to sent you via a secure website for your use. For books always try the Summit Catalog first (it is faster and you will have a longer loan period).