Research in Geography 

Monographs
The Libraries' book collection includes works that offer comprehensive treatment of many  geographical subjects. PILOT, our online  catalog to find books in our collection as well as links to the full-text version of electronic reserve items and other valuable information on the Internet.

To search the catalogs of other Pennsylvania Libraries, and to borrow books directly, choose Books and More/PALCI from our web page. (To borrow items, log in using your 16-digit I-card number.)

To gain access to  books that we do not own but may be available for loan, search WorldCat, for bibliographic entries to millions of books held in libraries around the world and significant web sites.  Materials not owned by this library can be ordered online through  Interlibrary Loan .

Reference Works

• Geo-Data: The World Geographical Encyclopedia -- Entries describe the physical geography of every nation and dependency on Earth. Physical features, climate, and vegetation are discussed in detail using a consistent set of rubrics.

Biographical Information

•  Biography Resource Center ---- a comprehensive database of biographical information on nearly 220,000 people from throughout history, around the world, and across all disciplines and subject areas.

General Online Sources of Full-text Scholarly and Popular Magazines and Newspapers
Scholarly and popular magazines and newspapers offer concise and timely treatment of many issues. IUP patrons can access
large collections of such information through the following services. (To gain access from off-campus, use your 16 digit I-card number.)

• Ebsco Host--access to the full-text of over one thousand periodicals and newspapers, the bibliographic references to thousands more, and links to Internet sites and information on local holdings of periodicals.
• Gale/General Onefile-- access to the full-text of over one thousand periodicals and bibliographic access to
  thousands more.
• Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe- full-text database includes the last twenty years of local, national, and international newspapers and many other useful sources.

Full-text Scholarly Journal Databases

• JSTOR -- Online archives of over 500 journals , so it does not include the most recent 2-5 years of each title. 
• Project Muse-- provides full-text online scholarly journals from academic presses covering the fields of literature and criticism, history, the visual and performing arts, cultural studies, education, political science, gender studies, and many others.

Specialized Indexes
Though large general databases offering full-text are easy to use, sometimes the source of the most scholarly and most relevant information is a specialized index. You also may wish to look at the complete list of these under All Databases on our web page.

Indexes of Particular Interest to Geographers

• GeoBib --Online Geographical Bibliography (GeoBib) is the online version of Current Geographical Publications. 
  Beginning with January 2004, it will be available only online cumulating all Current Geographical Publications entries from 1984 to the present. Available on-campus or with the VPN.
• GeoRef-- American Geological Institute's database containing over 1.9 million records of North America since 1785,  and other areas of the world since 1933. It is equivalent to Bibliography of North American Geology, Bibliography and  Index of Geology Exclusive of North America, Geophysical Abstracts, and the Bibliography and Index of Geology.
• GeoBase -- bibliographic database covering worldwide research literature in physical and human geography, earth and environmental sciences, ecology, and related disciplines.

Other useful indexes

• Cambridge Scientific Abstracts--provides multiple databases in the fields of agricultural sciences, aquatic, biological, environmental, and medical sciences.
• Environmental Issues & Policy Index -- the  online version of Environmental Periodicals Bibliography, produced and published by the International Academy at Santa Barbara.
• Digital Dissertations-- encompasses both Dissertation Abstracts and full text for all  Proquest digital
  dissertations from 1997 to present.  With more than 1.6 million entries, the Dissertation Abstracts database is the single, authoritative source for information about doctoral dissertations and master's theses.

Internet Searching

More and more scholarly information is becoming available on the Internet.  To limit searches to more scholarly sources use the following:

•  Google Scholar  " Google Scholar provides a simple way to broadly search for scholarly literature. From one place, you can search across many disciplines and sources: peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, abstracts and articles, from academic publishers, professional societies, preprint repositories, universities and other scholarly organizations. Google Scholar helps you identify the most relevant research across the world of scholarly research."
•  Google Books  search the full-text of books available on the Internet.

Documenting What You Find

• APA Style
• Endnote--bibliographic management software available to all IUP students with an I-card
  from the IT Support Center at the Suites on Grant Lower, Suite G35.

For assistance with research, come to the reference desk  on the first floor of Stapleton Library where a librarian can provide professional reference assistance.