Finding Information in the Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences: Historical Roots

September 2008, AOS 900

Jean PhillipsSchwerdtfeger LibrarySpace Science and Engineering Centerjean.phillips@ssec.wisc.edu

Overview

• Literature review and sources• Finding journal articles• Searching• Subject databases• Define research problem• Sample search• Recap

Systematic Literature Review

• Formulate the research question(s): Select a topic and set criteria (inclusion/exclusion)

• Search the literature• Gather, read, analyze and assess quality of results• Search and refine• Write and reference

Types of Sources

• Primary sources: a report by the original researchers of a study

• Secondary sources: description or study by someone other than the original researcher (e.g. a review article)

• Conceptual/theoretical: papers concerned with analysis of theories associated with the topic

• Anecdotal/opinion: Views about the subject that are not research, review or theoretical in nature

Types of Sources

• People: experts in the area• Journals: current, scholarly work• Major books or monographs: good overviews,

good treatment of history• Dissertations: literature reviews• Encyclopedias: general reviews• Web based material: overviews• Collections of images or objects

Finding Journal Articles

• UW-Madison Libraries have licensed many databases for your use

• Information cannot be accessed by using Google (most is proprietary)

• After finding specific articles, search for the journal title in MadCat for location on campus

• Some databases may have links to full-text via

• Links to databases from our home page

• By subject or name from E-Resource Gateway

• Remote access: http://www.library.wisc.edu/help/remote/remote-restrict.html

Searching

• Plan your search

• Remember variant word endings, Boolean connectors and synonyms

• Limit search terms to specific fields (title, subject heading), within a certain proximity to each other, year ranges

• To narrow a search: limit by theoretical approach, one aspect of subject, by time, by geographic location

• To broaden a search: generalize your topic, check more databases, limit jargon, check Web or newspaper databases if topic is too new

• Note controlled vocabularies

• Perform search, review results, refine search, search again, refine search, search again, export results

Subject Databases

• Meteorological and Geoastrophysical Abstracts (MGA)

• Oceanic Abstracts• NTIS• Web of Science

Meteorological and Geoastrophysical Abstracts

• Updated quarterly, 1960 –• MGA covers meteorology, climatology, oceanography,

remote sensing, atmospheric chemistry, hydrology, etc.• Indexes journal articles, conference proceedings, books,

technical reports• Includes abstract for most entries• Includes links to full-text for AMS journals and other

journals if the campus has a license• Pre-1960 literature can be found using print

equivalent

Oceanic Abstracts

• Updated monthly, 1984 –• Premier database for marine resources• Covers biology, ecology, marine geology,

geophysics, geochemistry, oceanography, marine pollution, environmental protection

• Includes links to full-text where available• Same interface as MGA, NTIS and Oceanic

Abstracts

NTIS Bibliographic Index

• Updated quarterly, 1964 –• Contains descriptions of U.S. government sponsored

sci/tech research from DOD, DOE, EPA, NASA, NOAA…

• Covers astronomy, atmospheric science, biotechnology, computers, energy, engineering, etc.

• Included are: reports on contracts/grants, technical memoranda, technical reports, dissertations, etc.

• Pre-1964, consult Government Reports and Announcements Index in print

• Same interface as MGA

Characteristics of Government Documents

• What are they? Conference literature, government reports, internal reports, reports on contracts, etc.

• Why are they important? Cited in literature and historically have provided a rapid means of scientific communication.

• Who publishes them? Agencies, governmental bodies, professional societies, federal contractors, etc.

• What characteristics do they have? Alpha-numeric report numbers, accession numbers, grant or contract numbers, sponsoring agency, no commercial publisher, distributed through facility like NTIS.

• Where can I find them? 1)Libraries: Campus libraries have most reports distributed 2)NTIS, DTIS, NASA, STI 3)Author

4)Issuing agency

Web of Science

• Updated weekly, 1970 –• Combination of three databases• Indexes peer-reviewed journal literature only – does not

include reports, conference proceedings, dissertations…• Known for its currency and meticulous indexing• Used to do general, cited reference or author searching• Journal Citation Reports is companion database:

http://admin-apps.isiknowledge.com/JCR/JCR?PointOfEntry=Home&SID=1CFDc@@jGl97inFB8fM

Define Research Problem

• How can I trace the historical roots of ENSO (El Nino Southern Oscillation).

• Who published the first critical papers?• How has the theory developed?• Synonyms: ENSO, El Nino Southern Oscillation,

history, bibliography, tropical ocean circulation, phenomena, theory, reviews

Search MadCat

Online Resource

What is El Niño?

Tropical Atmosphere Ocean Projecthttp://www.pmel.noaa.gov/tao/index.shtml

El Nino Theme Page

• First observations of El Niño

• Correlates with other readings

Check Selected References: TAO Refereed Journal Articles

TAO Refereed Publications>1986

Return to MadCat Search: ENSO Bibliography, #6for papers before 1986

Compare information from sources

• 1891: Dr. Luis Carranza, Lima Geographical Society, contributed a small article to its Bulletin, noting a countercurrent flowing from north to south along points on the coast of Peru – first recorded observations. Named El Nino

• 1923: Sir Gilbert Walker names the Southern Oscillation by recognizing that changes across the tropical Pacific were not isolated phenomena but connected as part of a larger oscillation

• 1969: Jacob Bjerknes, UCLA, first real description of El Niño/Southern Oscillation in terms of physical mechanisms

• 1970s-1980s: S.G.H Philander and K. Wyrtki continue to expand the concept

• 1990s

Open Web of ScienceSelect Files

Carranza Paper: Georef (0) MGA in print (0)

Web of Science (cited by)

Boletín de la Sociedad

Geográfica de Lima

Citing articles: Look backward in time

Walker Paper: Web of Science

Walker, 1923 and Walker, 1932Check MadCat for locations

Check References

Bjerknes, 1969, MWR

Bjerknes, 1969, MWR

Review article

or MadCat for Full-Text

Other Web of Science features

• Cited by• Related Records:

articles sharing same references

• References

Who is Bjerknes citing?

Philander PublicationsWeb of Science

Read, Review, Check References

Use Find It to access full-text

Repeat for Wyrtki

• Review references from other papers and from the bibliographies in hand

• Check Web of Science for other papers and cited references

Review

• Are all of your sources pointing to the same articles, giving the same view of the history of El Nino?

Current literature:Who is publishing on ENSO?

• Check Tropical Atmosphere Ocean Projecthttp://www.pmel.noaa.gov/tao/proj_over/pubs/taopubsr.shtml

• Search Web of Science by topic and author• Search Meteorological and Geoastrophysical

Abstracts• Search Oceanic Abstracts

Open MGA and Oceanic AbstractsBegin with KW search

Refine Search

Review Descriptors/Subject Terms/Abstractsfor terms to help narrow or expand the search

Refine Search

Use to link to full text

Saving Records

• Save, Print, E-mail records• Export to bibliographic management tool like

RefWorks or EndNote• Make sure you have complete references• Take and keep notes

Citation Managers

• RefWorks: http://www.refworks.com

• EndNote: https://www.myendnoteweb.com/EndNoteWeb/2.3/release/EndNoteWeb.html

• Tutorial: http://www.ssec.wisc.edu/library/teaching/refworks_spring2005.htm

• Overview: http://library.wisc.edu/citation-managers/

Author Index in MGA

Select name and variants

Review

• Review and compile results• Modify searches• Find articles• Have you gone back as far as you can go?• Have you covered the current literature?

Other Avenues of Inquiry

• Weathering the Weather: The Origins of Atmospheric Science http://orpheus.ucsd.edu/speccoll/weather/fulltext.html

• Is there a cross over between your topic and law, art, social sciences, environmental sciences, agriculture?

• Newspapers, current and historical

• Military periodicals and government documents

• National Archives and Records Administration

• Antarctic and Cold Regions Bibliography

• History of Science Databases

• WorldCat for holdings of other major science libraries

Finding Dissertations

• MadCat for UW-Madison dissertations• Current Research @ UW-Madison

http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/wisc/main

• Proquest Digital Dissertations, 1861- http://proquest.umi.com/login

• Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETD) http://www.ndltd.org/

• Index to Theses…Great Britain and Ireland http://www.theses.com/

• CRL Foreign Doctoral Dissertations Database http://www.crl.edu/content.asp?l1=5&l2=23&l3=44&l4=25

Citation Guides

• American Meteorological Society http://www.ametsoc.org/pubs/refstyl.html

• American Institute of Physics http://www.aip.org/pubservs/style/4thed/toc.html

• American Geophysical Union http://www.agu.org/pubs/inf4aus.html

• Internet Citation Guides (UW-Madison) http://memorial.library.wisc.edu/citing.htm

• Citing References in Your Paper (Writing Center, UW-Madison) http://www.wisc.edu/writing/Handbook/Documentation.html

Recap

• Determine search criteria and keep a notebook detailing what you’ve done and where you’ve looked

• Select database(s) to be searched: MGA, NTIS, Oceanic Abstracts, Web of Science

• Set up alerts in databases• Check MadCat for availability and location• Schwerdtfeger Library: http://library.ssec.wisc.edu• Finding Information (Powerpoint): http://library.ssec.wisc.edu/resources/

• Resources in the Atmospheric Sciences http://library.ssec.wisc.edu/resources/eresources/

• Questions: Ask a librarian