LibGuides@Southampton: Geography and Environmental Science: Databases

Preparing to search a database

This learning activity will help you to understand how to prepare an effective search of a database.

(Click on the image to go to the activity.)

By the end of this activity you should be able to:

explain what a search strategy is
identify key concepts and key words in a search question
use search tools and techniques, such as Boolean operators, phrase searching, and wild cards

Allow approximately 16 minutes to complete this learning activity.

Planning Your Search

Download one of our search planners or take a look at our search planner mindmap to get you started

Search planner [2021] [WORD]
Search planning form to collect information needed for a search strategy.
search planner - example
An example of using the search planning form with a research question
building your search strategy
Use the form to capture your research question and turn it into a search strategy. An example is include in the document.
Search planner mind-map

Databases for Geography and Environmental Science

Geobase This link opens in a new window
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GEOBASE indexes research literature on human and physical geography, earth sciences, ecology, geology, environmental sciences, oceanography, geomechanics, alternative energy sources, pollution, waste management, and nature conservation.
The database covers thousands of peer-reviewed journals, trade publications, book series and conference proceedings.
Web of Science Core Collection This link opens in a new window
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Provides references, and in many cases abstracts, for peer-reviewed scholarly journal articles in the sciences, social sciences, arts and humanities. Includes the Science Citation Index Expanded (1970-present), Social Sciences Citation Index (1970-present) and Arts & Humanities Citation Index (1975-present). Also provides citation data and references to books and conference papers. Click on the Full Text Finder links to check for full-text.
Our access to WOS now includes the 'Emerging Sources Citations Index: 2005-present'. Journals included in ESCI cover all disciplines and range from international and broad scope publications to those that provide deeper regional or speciality area coverage.
Gale OneFile News This link opens in a new window
You can access current UK newspapers such as the Guardian, Independent, Independent on Sunday and Observer from 1985 onwards.
GeoRef This link opens in a new window
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This database provides citations with abstracts from geosciences journal articles, books, maps, conference papers, reports and theses (Masters' theses and doctoral dissertations from US and Canadian universities). The database covers materials relating to North America published from 1693, and materials for the rest of the world from 1933.
Subjects indexed in the database include:- Areal geology, economic geology, engineering geology, environmental geology, extraterrestrial geology, geochemistry, geochronology, geophysics, hydrogeology and hydrology, marine geology and oceanography, mathematical geology, mineralogy and crystallography, palaeontology, petrology, seismology, stratigraphy, structural geology, surficial geology. The database is provided on the Proquest database platform.
GreenFILE This link opens in a new window
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Covers the environment in relation to a variety of disciplines such as agriculture, education, law, health and technology.
IBSS - International Bibliography of The Social Sciences This link opens in a new window
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Provides references and, in many cases, abstracts for journal articles, books and book chapters in the social sciences, from 1951 to current.
IBSS has particular strengths in politics, economics, sociology and anthropology. Click on the TDNet links to check for full-text. No password on campus. Off campus VPN or Institutional login.
Mass Observation Online This link opens in a new window
The papers of Mass Observation, a pioneering social research organisation. Provide insights into the cultural and social history of Britain from 1937 to 1965.
Mass Observation was a pioneering social research organisation whose papers provide insights into the cultural and social history of Britain from 1937 to 1965. The material in Mass Observation Online, offers detailed accounts of everyday life in the 1930s and 1940s. The topics covered include abortion, old age, crime, eating habits, shopping, fashion, dance, popular music, sex, sport, reading, ethnic minorities, and the decline of Empire. For off-campus access, click the "UK Access Management Federation" option, and select "University of Southampton".

Passport (Euromonitor International)
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Provides statistics and in depth reports on companies, industries and countries worldwide. Includes consumer trends, demographic data, socioeconomic data, macroeconomic data and global reports.

Proquest Dissertations & Theses Global This link opens in a new window
The world's most comprehensive collection of full-text dissertations and theses.
Click 'login' for on campus access. For access off campus, click 'login', enter 'University of Southampton' in the institutional field followed by your institutional username and password.
Scopus This link opens in a new window
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Scopus is the largest abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature: scientific journals, books and conference proceedings. Delivering a comprehensive overview of the world's research output in the fields of science, technology, medicine, social sciences, and arts and humanities, Scopus features smart tools to track, analyze and visualize research.

Maps and Geospatial Data

Digimap This link opens in a new window
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Digimap is an online map and data delivery service. Operated by EDINA at the University of Edinburgh, Digimap offers a number of data collections, including Ordnance Survey, historical, geological, LiDAR and marine maps and spatial data. Registration is required.
Digimap Ordnance Survey This link opens in a new window
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Digimap Ordnance Survey is part of the most comprehensive maps and geospatial data service in UK Higher and Further Education. It allows you to view, annotate and print current OS maps; download OS mapping data for use in GIS and CAD; find information about postcodes and place names.
Registration is required and includes an end user license. Note: This service is only available to UK based staff and students.
Digimap Historic This link opens in a new window
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Historic Digimap offers a range of historical Ordnance Survey mapping data products from 1843 to 1996. A range of online tools are available to facilitate viewing, interrogation and download of these products.
Ancient Roam allows you to view historical Ordnance Survey maps from the 1840s to the 1990s. Zoom through 12 different levels from maps at 1:500 to 1:10 560 in scale; view the same location for two different points in time to see what has changed. Land Use Map Viewer is a simple interface for viewing the Dudley Stamp Land Use maps created in the 1930s, compare 1930s Land Use map with contemporary OS map and search for location by place name or coordinates. For current maps use Digimap Ordnance Survey.
Landmap This link opens in a new window
Archive of the Landmap service which ran between 2001 and 2014, Landmap collected, modified and hosted a large amount of earth observation data for the majority of the UK. The Landmap service data is now held at the NEODC.
Landsat This link opens in a new window
Landsat satellites have taken specialised digital photographs of Earth’s continents and surrounding coastal regions for over three decades, enabling people to study many aspects of our planet and to evaluate the dynamic changes caused by both natural processes and human practices.
NBN (National Biodiversity Network's) Gateway This link opens in a new window
Provides access to UK biodiversity data contributed by a wide range of partipating data providers ranging from the Biological Records Centre to the RSPB.
ShareGeo Open This link opens in a new window
'ShareGeo Open was a repository of geospatial data, previously hosted by EDINA. ShareGeo Open has now been discontinued, its datasets have been migrated to the Edinburgh DataShare Collection, for preservation, in accordance with the agreement signed by all ShareGeo depositors.
ShareGeo Open was a repository that promoted data sharing between creators and users of spatial data and was the place where researchers, students and lecturers at UK HEFE institutions could deposit data for anyone to download and use.'

Registration and an 'ac.uk' email account required to deposit.

Other Useful Databases

BIOSIS Previews This link opens in a new window
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The world's leading database for the life sciences, covering subjects such as botany, zoology, microbiology, as well as agriculture, pharmacology, bio-physics, ecology, bio-engineering and experimental clinical medicine. Dates back to 1956 and covers not just journal articles, but also proceedings of meetings, conferences, reports, chapters in textbooks and other related resources.
BoB This link opens in a new window
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An off-air recording and media archive service that allows you to record TV and radio programmes scheduled for broadcast over the next seven days as well as retrieving programmes from the last seven days from a selected list of channels. In addition, you can watch programmes from the archive, create clips, and compile your favourite shows into playlists. Further information
Please switch off Global Protect for off-campus access.
Due to E.U legislation, any UK registered students in the EU will not be able to access BoB (apart from the BBC News Channel* ) from 1st January 2021.
Business Source Complete This link opens in a new window
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Business Source Complete offers access to video content from the Associated Press, the world’s leading news agency. Videos relevant to the search terms will appear in a carousel in the result list. With footage from 1930 to the present and updated monthly, this collection of more than 77,000 videos covers a wide variety of topics.
EconLit This link opens in a new window
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EconLit, the American Economic Association's electronic database. It provides citations and abstracts to economic research dating back to 1886. Includes journal articles, books, book chapters and working papers. All journals covered are peer-reviewed. No password on campus. Off campus Institutional login.
Kanopy This link opens in a new window
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Kanopy is an on-demand streaming video platform for public libraries and universities that offers films and documentaries.The service includes features such as captions, transcripts, clip creation, and playlist creation that allow users to share videos.

Please note: You will need to create a personal account to access Kanopy through either the mobile or TV apps. Creating an account on Kanopy will also allow you to save videos to your Watchlist to view later, create clips and playlists.

For more help creating an account, click here
Southeast Asian Serials Index (SASI) This link opens in a new window
The Southeast Asian Serials Index (SASI) provides access to information on Southeast Asia through the indexing selected academic and current affairs journals published in a range of countries including Indonesia, Malaysia, Japan, The Netherlands, Germany, Great Britain, United States and Australia. For historically reasons there is a strong focus on Indonesia, but covers several other Southeast Asian countries and Papua New Guinea.
Transport This link opens in a new window
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TRANSPORT is a bibliographic database of transportation research information.

Geography and Environmental Science: Databases

All about databases

Preparing to search a database

Planning Your Search

Databases for Geography and Environmental Science

Maps and Geospatial Data

Other Useful Databases