Literature review and discussion of Aldo Leopold’s body of work on ecology, natural resource management, and conservation. Topics to be covered in this seminar include Leopold’s developing theories on ungulate irruptions and the role of predation, and how these theories informed A Sand County Almanac and also inform ecosystem management today.
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.
Follow the "read more" link below for some suggestions for databases to search.
Be sure you can locate the the OSU Libraries Home Page and from there find these three links
Also look for the links to "Get help with a subject" and "Get help with a class" (see the navigation bar to the left).
If you have not done much searching or have not been satisfied with the results of your searches, follow the "more" link below for some search tips.
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).
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 also a good idea to look for primary sources in Archives. For example, the University of Wisconsin Libraries, has begun a digital archive for Aldo Leopold , one of their notable faculty members. This collection will grow over time as more of his private papers are digitize.
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.
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).
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 sent to 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.