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Geology110: Geology of the National Parks

Databases for National Park Research

You learned about eBook databases for pre-research, but the library subscribes to more than 170 databases that cover a variety of research areas and information formats!

Click the A to Z Databases tab to see the full list. Browse the list alphabetically or sort the databases by subject (ie, Science) or type (ie, Newspaper).

Database Search Strategies

These search strategies can help you in any database you use.

Keywords

Using the right keywords can affect how relevant your results are. Keywords fall into three main categories: Broad, Narrow, and Related.

  • Broad: More general categories (protected areas, flora, park activities)
  • Narrow: A specific category (Rocky Mountain National Park, Rocky Mountain Columbine, horseback riding)
  • Related: Synonyms or similar terms, or terms that are connected to your topic (Estes Park, endangered plant species, pine beetle epidemic)  

Start with the main ideas in your thesis statement. Add or revise using keywords you found when you did your pre-research.

  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. Each keyword you remove will expand 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. Use the Peer Reviewed limiter if that is the kind of information you need. You can also adjust the date range to get the most current articles.
  5. Number of results: Strive for no more than 200 hundred results. If you have more than that, try revising your search. You want a list of results that is manageable so you can look through them all.

Boolean Operators: AND, OR, NOT

  • AND: for combining related search terms ("Rocky Mountain National Park" AND hiking)
  • OR: for searching similar words ("pine beetle" OR "bark beetle")
  • NOT: for eliminating results ("Rocky Mountain National Park" NOT "Estes Park")

Suggested Databases for National Park Research