Finding Information in the Atmospheric
and Oceanic Sciences: Historical Roots
September 2008, AOS 900
Jean Phillips
Schwerdtfeger Library
Space Science and Engineering Center
jean.phillips@ssec.wisc.edu
Overview
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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/remoterestrict.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://adminapps.isiknowledge.com/JCR/JCR?PointOfEntry=Home&S
ID=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 Project
http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/tao/index.shtml
El Niño 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, #6
for 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 Niño
• 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 Science
Select 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, 1932
Check 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 Publications
Web 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
Niño?
Current literature:
Who is publishing on ENSO?
• Check Tropical Atmosphere Ocean Project
http://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 Abstracts
Begin with KW search
Refine Search
Review Descriptors/Subject Terms/Abstracts
for 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_spring
2005.htm
• Overview: http://library.wisc.edu/citation-managers/
Author Index in MGA
Select name and variants
Review
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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
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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, 1861http://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