Why Articles?
Articles give you a short focused treatment of up-to-date content. The articles in scholarly journals go through a peer-review 
process -- reviewed by experts -- before publication. The result is information that is more reliable.
Use articles from scholarly journals when you need original authoritative research; publications written by scholars or subject experts; factual documented information to reinforce a position; and references that point you to other relevant research.
Scholarly journals are published more quickly than books, although the peer-review process can be lengthy.
(A Tapestry of Time and Terrain, Vigil et al, 2000, USGS Investigations Series 2720.)
Top Picks
- GeoRef (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
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GeoRef provides access to millions of references in the geosciences, including journal articles, reports, books, maps, and dissertations. North American coverage: 1669-present. International coverage: 1933-present. - GeoScienceWorld This link opens in a new window
Publications from the major professional societies in the earth sciences, including peer-reviewed journals linked to full text. Uses a version of GeoRef. - AAPG Datapages/Archives This link opens in a new window
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Access to American Association of Petroleum Geologists publications, including AAPG Bulletin, AAPG Special Volumes, Journal of Petroleum Geology, Petroleum Abstracts Discovery file, as well as publications by several regional groups. Includes access to the GIS-UDRIL (GIS Upstream Digital Reference Information Library) database of projects in GIS formats. Note: Petroleum Abstracts is ceasing operations and access will end on December 31, 2024.
- USGS Publications Warehouse This link opens in a new window
Access to over 130,000 publications of USGS authors, including journal articles; USGS Bulletins, Professional Papers, etc.; book chapters, and other materials.
- ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global This link opens in a new window
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Graduate research, including the geosciences, earth resource exploration, planetary sciences.
- EarthArXiv Preprints
Preprint in the geosciences not yet peer reviewed/published -- Useful for new developments, geohazard updates, etc.
Popular Journals on Colorado Geology
- Bulletin: Colorado Geological SurveyCall Number: QE91 .A4
Colorado School of Mines QuarterlyCall Number: Journal stacksPublication Date: 1906- 2003Title varies
Related & Multidisciplinary Resources
- ScienceDirect This link opens in a new window
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From foundational science to new and novel research, discover our large collection of Physical Sciences and Engineering publications, covering a range of disciplines, from the theoretical to the applied. - ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global This link opens in a new window
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PQDT Global is a comprehensive collection of dissertations and theses from around the world, offering millions of works from thousands of universities. Each year hundreds of thousands of works are added. Full-text coverage spans from 1743 to the present, with citation coverage dating back to 1637. - Engineering Village This link opens in a new window
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Engineering Village is the information discovery platform to search across both Compendex and INSPEC databases. The thesauri on Engineering Village comprise the controlled vocabulary used to index articles in the Compendex, Inspec, GeoRef, GEOBASE and EnCompass databases. - ASCE Civil Engineering Database This link opens in a new window
This database provides a simple search interface for all ASCE publications. It provides bibliographic access to all of the ASCE journals, conference proceedings, books, standards, manuals, magazines, and newsletters. - Applied Science and Technology Full Text (EBSCO) This link opens in a new window
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Applied Science & Technology Full Text contains indexing and abstracts for scientific and technical publications back to 1983. Content includes coverage of a wide variety of applied science specialties—acoustics to aeronautics, neural networks to nuclear and civil engineering, computers and informatics, and much more. - Applied Science & Technology Index Retrospective: 1913-1983 (H.W. Wilson) This link opens in a new window
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Applied Science & Technology Index Retrospective: 1913-1983 offers indexing for articles. This database is a resource for tracking down important studies, exploring historic controversies, finding papers by innovators, researching the development of particular technologies, and more.
Google Scholar Search
Scholarly, Professional, Popular?
Evaluating Sources
What kind of information do you need? If you are writing for a class assignment, you may be required to use peer-reviewed ("refereed") or scholarly sources. In any case, you should always look for sources that are authoritative.
Scholarly Checklist--Look for:
- Authors listed, with credentials
- Bibliography, references, or works cited
- Reviewed by peers or experts in the subject
- Published by a reputable publisher
- Purpose is to inform or impart knowledge, not to sell, persuade, entertain
- Appears impartial--few or no advertisements, no emotional language, unbiased
- Includes data, observations, statistics, or graphics to support conclusions
- Includes specialized or technical language or concepts
Authoritative--A source can have authority even if it isn't scholarly.
- Author and/or publisher is an expert on the subject, for example:
- Manufacturer's catalogs
- Legal or regulatory information
- Author's affiliations and contact information are available
- Publisher or sponsoring organization is reputable (e.g., for websites, look for the domain; .gov or .edu sites are more likely to contain unbiased information)
- Cites scholarly or high-quality sources in references list/bibliography
Other Criteria-- these are not definitive, but worthy of consideration:
- Do you see errors in spelling, grammar, data?
- Is the publication in turn cited by other credible works published later?
- How current is the information (no date? be suspicious)?