GeoRef® via CSA: A Brief Guide   1785+

   Updated monthly

 

 

 

GeoRef is the American Geological Institute's geoscience database containing over 2.3 million records of North America since 1785 and other areas of the world since 1933. It indexes articles and documents from over 3,500 journals and serials in more than 40 languages, as well as maps, theses and dissertations, conference papers, government publications, books and book chapters, and reports. Major areas of coverage include geology, geochemistry, geochronology, geophysics, hydrogeology and hydrology, marine geology and oceanography, mineralogy and crystallography, paleontology, and seismology.

 

Endnote users: there is a filter for importing records from CSA's version of GeoRef, available from Endnote. None of the CSA provided files are yet searchable using EndNote's Z39.50 capability.

The GeoRef Preview Database consists of references to recent geoscience publications. Caution: This data is in process for inclusion in GEOREF. It may not yet have been indexed, been given a translated title, or been checked by a GEOREF editor when you see it. Each weekend, completed references are removed from the Preview database and transferred to GeoRef, new references are added, and changes are made in the remaining data. Two views of the database are available: Subject and Journal. A word search is also provided. The word search includes all words in the reference, the abstract, if any, and index terms, if the reference has already been indexed.

The GeoRef In Process database or GRIP file is now available from CSA only. Stanford Only. GRIP consists of references to documents published before 1995. The references are from databases and print bibliographies produced by surveys or institutions in: Canada, China, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Russia or Spain. These In-Process Records are being edited and indexed, and on completion, will be transferred out of GeoRef in Process, into GeoRef.

Selected Indexes

 

Field name

Description

Example

Author (AU=)

Enter last name followed by initials or first name. *For best results, use the Browse Author index, described below.

page b m

page ben*

Keyword (KW=)

Words from title, abstract, or subject keywords. Words separated by spaces, are searched as a phrase, and must come from (or be found in) the same field.

impact crater*

Source (SO=)

Journals, conference proceedings, books, etc. where an article or paper was published. Searched as a phrase.

mathematical geology

Title (TI=)

Title of the article, any words. Words separated by spaces are searched as a phrase.

chemical weathering

Corporate Author (CA=)

Searched as a phrase.

Stanford Geothermal

Conference (CF=)

Search by words in a conference name. The year or place a conference was held can also be searched.

Baton Rouge and 1999

Author affiliation (AF=)

Institutional affiliation of author(s).

dartmouth

usgs

Descriptor (DE=)

Subjects assigned to articles.

channel* scabland*

Classification (CL=)

Subject categories. Enter as word(s) or numeric codes. See list under “limits” at bottom of Advanced Search page.

Seismology or 19

Publication year(s) (PY=)

Select beginning and ending publication dates to search from the pulldown menus. The default is earliest – present.

1774 to Present

Language (LA=)

Language of the article.

Select a language from pulldown list.

French

Publication Type (PT=)

To eliminate abstracts, type in “not pt= abstract”.

Abstract

 

Additional searchable field names are as follows:

 

AB=Abstract

ED=Editor

LL=Latitude and Longitude

PD=Publication Date

UD=Update

AN=Accession Number

FE=Features

MP=Map

RL=Resource Location

 

AV=Availability

HL=Holding Library

NT=Notes

RP=Report Number

 

CD=Coden

IB=ISBN

ON=Organization

SL=Summary Language

 

CP=Country of Publication

IS=ISSN

PB=Publisher

SP=Sponsor

 

 

Phrase searching

 

Phrase searching is the default when more than one word is entered in a search box. Use * to truncate.

 

Examples:

volcanic eruptions retrieves those words together, in that order

volcan* erupt* retrieves phrase volcan(-ic,-o,-oes) erupt(-s,-ed,-ing,-ion,-ions), from within the same field.

To retrieve “eruptions of volcanoes,” or other items containing these terms, search volcan* AND erupt*.

 

Browsing for Author searching

 

 

Examples:

page retrieves all authors with the last name Page

page b retrieves all authors with the last name Page and with the single or first initial B

page b or page bm or page ben or page ben m or page benjamin m or page ben markham or page benjamin markhamretrieves all variations of this author.

 

Serials Source Lists

A list of serials indexed in GeoRef can be found at: http://www.agiweb.org/georef/about/serials.html

 

Thesaurus Search / Subject searching

For most accurate and thorough results, use the Thesaurus search option, located under the “Search Tools” tab. Such a search displays all terms that have relationships with the found item (eg, broader and narrower terms) plus any explanatory notes. Enter a word or phrase in the search box. The items retrieved can be selected en masse or in part to use in your search.

Example: natural remanent magnetization: use for NRM, Broad term: remanent magnetization

     Related term: paleomagnetism

 

Truncation

 

Examples:

pal*ontology retrieves paleontology or palaeontology

volcan* erupt* retrieves phrase volcan(-ic,-o,-oes) erupt(-s,-ed,-ing,-tion, -ions)

analys?s retrieves analysis or analyses

carbon fib?? retrieves carbon fiber or carbon fibre

 

Operators (Boolean, adjacency/proximity, order)

 

Terms entered in different search fields are combined with AND, OR, or NOT. Boolean operators can be used within a search field. Operators are searched in the order they are entered (left to right) unless parentheses are used.

 

AND

requires that both terms be present:

Precambrian and granite*

OR

finds records containing either term:

jokulhlaups or ice dam*

NOT

excludes records containing a term:

granite not Precambrian

Parentheses ensure that operations are performed in the correct order:

toxic* and (chromium or lead)

 

Marking, printing, and downloading results

 

Marking citations: Mark desired items using the check boxes.

Printing citations: Click on the “Save/Print/Email Records” box, click “Print”, and use your browser’s print feature.

Mailing citations: Fill in your e-mail address, and click on the “Email” box.

Downloading citations: To download marked citations, click on the “Save” box. Use the “Save as…” function of your browser to save records as displayed.