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Geology110: Geology of the National Parks

Finding Sources

Types of Databases

  • eBook databases: Use when you want to find a lot of information about a broad topic. (example: eBook Collection)
  • Article databases: Use when you want to find popular or scholarly articles. (example: Environmental Studies)
  • Newspaper databases: Use when you want to find news articles about your park. (example: NewsBank: America's Historical Newspapers)
  • Statistics: Use for finding statistics about your park, like number of visitors.(example: Statista)
  • Images: Use for finding images for your presentation. (example: JSTOR/ARTSTOR)
  • Videos: Use for finding primary source (historical) video related to your park. (example: American History in Video)

Search Strategies

These search strategies can help you in any database you use. Using the right keywords can affect how relevant your results are.

  1. Search with specific keywords (not questions or long phrases).
  2. Search 2-3 keywords at a time. Each keyword you add will reduce your results.
  3. Use quotation marks around words you want to search as a complete phrase ("Rocky Mountain National Park").
  4. Limiters: always use the Full Text limiter. 

Strive for a list of results that is manageable so you can look through them all. If you have an overwhelming number of results, try revising your search by changing or adding keywords or applying different limiters. Revising your search might also mean trying a different database.