Geography (human)

Sources for Background Information

Dictionaries and Encyclopedias

• Cultural Geography : a Critical Dictionary of Key Concepts
• Dictionary of Human Geography
• Encyclopedia of Human Geography
• Encyclopedia of Urban Studies
• International Encyclopedia of Human Geography
• The Oxford Companion to Global Change

Handbooks

• Handbook of Cultural Geography

Searching the Library Catalogue

Use the basic word(s) anywhere or advanced keyword search in the library catalogue. You can search using words like - Canada, Canad?, histor?, etc.

Search tips

Truncation symbol:	?	e.g. histor? will retrieve catalogue records containing the words history, histories, historical, etc.
Phrase searching:	"___"	e.g. "United Nations" will retrieve catalogue records containing the phrase United Nations
Boolean operators:	(), AND, OR, NOT default: AND	e.g. history AND (Canada OR "United States") will retrieve catalogue records containing the word history AND either Canada OR the phrase United States

Article Databases

• Africa-Wide Information - Multidisciplinary database covering all aspects of Africa and African Studies.
• CAB Abstracts - Covers research and development literature in the fields of agriculture, forestry, health, natural resources management and tourism.
• Environmental Sciences and Pollution Management Database - Multidisciplinary, comprehensive coverage of the environmental sciences.
• GEOBASE - Multidisciplinary database for human and physical geography, ecology, geology, oceanography, geomechanics and development studies.
• GreenFILE - Focuses on human impact on the environment. Topics covered include green issues, global climate change, green building, pollution, sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, recycling, and more.
• GREENR - Devoted to the study of sustainability and the environment and provides access to academic articles, news articles, background information, video, primary source documents and statistics.
• OECD iLibrary - Online library of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. OECD publications cover economic, environmental, and social issues including trade, education, labour, social policy, health, finance, development, energy, sustainability, and science and innovation.
• MEDLINE (1996- ) (or search via PubMed) - Journal article database of the National Library of Medicine in the U.S. Some coverage of health-related topics in Geography such as global health, social determinants of health, and climate change issues. 
• PAIS International - Covers global public policy, social issues, demography, environmental studies, general social sciences.
• General Science Full Text - Scientific information, including: Conservation, Environment, Food, Health
• Scopus - A Full-text science and social sciences database that is capable of backward and forward citation linking and includes citation counts.
• Social Sciences Full Text - Coverage of both applied and theoretical aspects of the Social Sciences, in the areas of Addiction Studies, Anthropology, Area Studies, Community Health & Medical Care, Corrections, Criminal Justice, Criminology, Economics, Environmental Studies, Ethics, Family Studies, Gender Studies, Geography, Gerontology, International Relations, Law, Minority Studies, Planning & Public Administration, Policy Sciences, Political Science, Psychiatry, Psychology, Public Welfare, Social Work, Sociology, Urban Studies
• Urban Studies Abstracts - Covers areas essential to urban studies, including city planning, urban affairs, community development, transportation, and urban design.
• Web of Science - A multidisciplinary index to the journal literature of the Social Sciences, Arts & Humanities, and the Sciences. Allows for cited reference searching to find articles that cite a previously published work.

Grey Literature Sources

Non-academic or "in-house" literature outside of traditional publishing -- government documents, urban plans, reports, working papers, etc. If the source is a Google Custom Search, use the Google search tips here: google_tips_handout.pdf.

• Carleton University's Find Canadian Government Publications on the Web
  Google Custom Search that searches across Canadian government websites with the option to limit to federal, provincial, or municipal information.
• Canadian electronic library: Canadian public policy collection
  Publications from Canadian public policy institutes, government agencies, advocacy groups, think-tanks, university research centres and public interest groups.
• IGO Search
  Google Custom Search of websites of over 3000 IGOs for reports and other publications. Maintained by the Union of International Associations (UIA).  
• NGO Search
  Custom Google Search of websites of IGO websites for reports and other publications  
• Google Scholar
  Searches scholarly literature across disciplines and sources and includes some grey literature.
• McGill Library Subject Guide for Theses and Dissertations
  Lists sources for locating theses and dissertations from McGill and beyond.  
• McGill Library Subject Guide for Conference Papers
  Lists sources for locating conference papers and presentations. Conference papers and presentations report research in-progress. 

Selected Internet Sites

• Atlas of Canada
  From Natural Resources Canada; Provides a comprehensive collection of maps and related information about Canada
• CIA World Factbook
  Provides information on the history, people, government, economy, geography, communications, transportation, military and transnational issues for 266 world entities
• Povert Reduction and Equity: World Bank
• UN-HABITAT: United Nations Human Settlements Programme
• UNESCO
• World Health Organization
• World Resources Institute

Updated November 2009 by J. Garland