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GGR305: Biogeography

This guide will assist GGR305 students, as well as other geography students, when starting to look for and gather research for papers and assignments.

Searching for Articles

To find articles, from the U of T library homepage, you can search using either the article search option or through subject specific databases.

The advanced search option for articles allows you to use key words. By narrowing down your search results using the facets on the left hand side, you can find relevant articles. Also, if you know the specific details of the article you are looking for, such as volume, issue and/or title, this is where you can search for it.

It is likely that you will receive an overwhelming amount of results, but by selecting the appropriate search filters, format and subject options, you can narrow down your results.

Choose an appropriate database that pertains to the subject you are researching by selecting "Subjects A-Z". For example, if we select "Ecology and Evolutionary Biology" from this list, we see all of the relevant databases that contain relevant databases, such as Scopus, Web of Science, and Zoological Record.This will also lead you to other resources such as the Botany and Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Resource Guides.

Scholarly Article Resources

Check to see if Journal Articles are Scholarly

Articles in peer-reviewed journals are reviewed by a group of the writer's peers (aka other academics in his/her field) before the articles are published. A scholarly journal is a journal that has been peer reviewed.

For print journals:

  • On the inside of the cover or on the first page or two, the peer review process will be outlined by the publisher, or go to the journal's website and look at the article submission guidelines to determine if the journal has a peer review process.

For an e-journal or any publication you are not sure about:

  • Use Ulrich's Periodical Review to determine if the journal is peer-reviewed or refereed. After you have typed in the name of the journal, if you see this symbol[refereed] you will know the journal has been peer reviewed.

In the example shown below, both the online and print versions of Earth Sciences History are peer-reviewed, while Earth Sciences is not.

Finding an Article from a Citation

Enter citation information into the Article Finder to determine if we have online access to the full text of a particular article. You can also use the Article Finder to create a permanent link to an article.

In order to get your hands on the full text of articles, you need to start with a complete citation of the article.  This consists of: 

  • Name(s) of the author(s)
  • Title of the article
  • Title of the journal
  • Volume and issue number
  • Date
  • Pages

Ellstrand, Norman C. and Mikeal L. Roose (1987), Patterns of Genotypic Diversity in Clonal Plant Species. American Journal of Botany, 74 (1): 123–131.

 

Note if you do not get any results, try entering just the journal title or abbreviation. 

Don't despair if you don't find it on Article Finder!  Try also looking for the journal on e-journals or even search google or google scholar as a final try.  You may be surprised by how much is available for free. If you do find a journal that is freely available but not on our journals list you can contact your librarian and request that the journal is added to our collections, or borrow the article from another University Library collection by using RACER.