Winter 2006
Professor Bereket Haileab

• Finding Journal Articles
• Finding Information on the Web
• Finding Books & Goverment Documents
  
• Your Librarian

Finding Journal Articles

Remember, articles cannot be found in the Bridge catalog. You will need to search one of the databases to find relevant articles. I've listed the databases that I think have the most relevant articles for your assignment below. All of these databases are part of Cambridge Scientific Abstracts (CSA).

Once you have identified an article that you'd like to read, if it there is no full-text link, click the "Find It!" button to see if Carleton or St. Olaf subscribes to the journal. If we do not have a subscription, you will need to order the article through InterLibrary Loan: just click the "Request from Illiad" link and log in to Illiad. Note: Allow at least a week to get articles through ILL. Start early!

• Water Resources Abstracts (1967 - current • Abstracts)
  This has been the best database for finding literature on water quality studies. It covers international technical and scientific literature on water-related topics covering the characteristics, conservation, control, pollution, treatment, use and management of water resources. Use the Water Resources Thesaurus to find the best terms for your topic.

• ASFA 3: Aquatic Pollution and Environmental Quality (1990 - current • Abstracts)
  Research and policy on the contamination of oceans, seas, lakes, rivers, and estuaries. Use the ASFA Thesaurus to find the best terms for your topic.

• GeoRef(N. America: 1785 - present, Worldwide coverage: 1933 - present • Abstracts)
  GeoRef indexes a wide array of geological literature back to the late 1700's. This is a good database to use if you are looking at geologic factors in water quality and water analyses.Use the GeoRef Thesaurus to find the best terms for your topic.

• Pollution Abstracts (1981 - current • Abstracts)
  Information on scientific research and government policies in response to global pollution issues. Use the Pollution Thesaurus to find the best terms for your topic.

• Academic Search Premier (Full-text articles, Citations)
  &
  ProQuest (Full-text articles, Citations)
  These two databases have a much wider focus. Don't expect in-depth or technical studies of specific lakes or streams. However, you may find good articles about broader topics like water quality or lake processes.

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Finding Information on the Web

• Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (www.pca.state.mn.us)
  Click on "Water" on the left side of the page to get to information on water quality standards and data from monitoring and assessing the water.

• Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (www.dnr.state.mn.us)
  Click on "Lake Finder" to get information on water clarity, quality and the types of fish that are stocked for specific lakes.

• EPA Water Pages(www.epa.gov/water)
  The EPA's main page for water related information. You can find links to pages on test methods, water quality standards and much more.

• EPA Surf Your Watershed (www.epa.gov/surf)
  This page lets you search for a watershed by zip code or the name of a river, stream or creek. Once you've located the watershed, you will be given links to a large variety of information about the watershed, streamflow, water use and other websites associated with the watershed.

• EPA STORET (www.epa.gov/storet/dw_home.html)
  STORET gives you access to water quality monitoring data from the EPA and other agencies (including local watershed groups). This database is not easy to use, but it will get you a lot of raw data on the water quality that you can import in to Excel. I highly recommend looking at the document behind the link "Training Exercise" before you start. You may want to search by monitoring station. You can do that by doing a search for "Stations by Geographic Location."

• National Map (nationalmap.gov)
  The National Map lets you look at many different types of data on a map. If you navigate to your study area, you can map the geology, the elevation and even the land use for the surrounding area. Click "Go to Viewer" on the left to launch the map.

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Finding Books & Government Documents

Search Bridge for books that provide background information on your topics, such as water chemistry and water quality. A good way to find books on a topic is to search on the subject headings. However, you must use the specific subjects defined by the library of congress. Some useful headings are listed below. If you aren't sure of the correct subject heading, try doing a keyword search for your topic. Check the results for a relevant book, and then look at the subject headings listed for the book. You can also ask a librarian if you're having trouble finding books.

Some relevant subject headings

• Lakes
• Limnology (the study of lakes)
• Water Quality
• Water Chemistry
• Water -- Composition
• Snow
• Watersheds
• Rivers
• Hydrogeology
• Groundwater
• Geochemistry

Finding Government Documents

The government publishes a lot of reports and studies on water quality and other environmental topics. Many of the reports are location-specific, so you might want to search for reports with the word "Minnesota" in them.

You can find the government documents through Bridge, the same way that you search for books. If you'd like to limit your search to only find Government Documents at Carleton College, do an Advanced Search, and set the location to "Carleton College Gov Docs." You can use the same subject terms as you did when searching for books.

The government documents are shelved on the first floor of the library in compact shelving. The microfiche collection is in the cabinets on the south side of the government documents collection. The collection is organized according to the SUDOC system. The first letter of the call number indicates which agency published the report. If you are having any trouble using or finding government documents, come talk to me.

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