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Earth System Science

Earth System Science focuses on the atmosphere, land and oceans - how they interact as a system - and how the Earth will change over a human lifetime. Global change is projected to accelerate through the 21st century and will impact world ecosystems.

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Searching GeoRef

How to use GeoRef

About GeoRef

GeoRef contains citations for over 3,500 journals plus numerous conference papers, theses, and other publications in the fields of geology, geophysics, and paleontology. Citations cover the years 1785-present for geology of North America and the years 1933-present for geology of other areas worldwide. "GeoRef in Process" contains records that are in the process of being indexed (not necessarily published recently).

How to Access GeoRef

1.Go to the UCI Libraries home page www.lib.uci.edu
2.Select Research Guides
3.Select "Earth Systems Science" or type "georef" as a title search..
4.Click on the UC Irvine link to take you to the database.  Select the databases  you want to search: GeoRef (1785 to the present) or GeoRef In Process or BOTH.

Author Searching

Use the BROWSE INDEX blue button near the bottom in the left frame. Enter the surname, comma, and first initial if known.


(e.g. rowland, f) then click the DISPLAY button. On the results screen, check the boxes representing all variations of your author's name. Click the NEXT button in order to continue browsing through the index.  Once you have selected all possibilities, click the SEARCH button on the left frame.

Subject Searching

There are two ways of conducting a subject search, by keyword and by the thesaurus.

Keyword Search

Type keywords into the search bos.  Check the radio button to indicate all of the words.  You may use Boolean operators AND, OR or NOT.  Please see the examples on the next page.

Thesaurus Search

Use the thesaurus to select more precise search terms (descriptors) or to look for related terms.
1.Click on the THESAURUS SEARCH bar from the left frame.
2.Type search term in the box.
3.Select the type of search (e.g. thesaurus, rotated index, alphabetical list. The rotated index will show you all instances where a term appears in the thesaurus.   Once you click on a term listed in the rotated index or alphabetical list, you are in the thesaurus.)
4.Click on the DISPLAY bar.
5.Click on the term to see broader, narrower and related terms. To view narrower terms, click on the term which has a "+" after it.

To Search for Records with the Resulting Term(s)

1.Click on the checkbox in front of the term.  If selecting more than one term choose the type of search to conduct (e.g. Use OR for synonyms to broaden a search)

2.Click on the SEARCH BAR in the left frame.

Combining Searches

The SEARCH HISTORY/ALERTS button in the lower left frame will list all of your current searches.  To combine them click in the check box to select searches and choose the appropriate Boolean operator, then click the SEARCH AGAIN button.
You can adjust your searches when necessary by using the following techniques:

   

To search for
Use
Example (note caps)
Results
exact phrase
  
carbon cycle
carbon cycle (adjacent and in that order)
variant endings of a word
*
ophiol*
ophiolite ophiolites ophiolithic  etc.
single-character variants
?
wom?n
women, woman
all words
AND
rossby AND wave
rossby and wave required in every record
any word (synonyms)
OR
earthquake OR tremor
either earthquake or tremor will be in every record
one word but not another
NOT
chlorofluoro carbon NOT freon
non-freon chlorofluoro carbon. BE CAREFUL!  You will probably loose some relevant records.
words near each other
NEAR
greenhouse NEAR gases
greenhouse and gases within 10 words of each other

Additional techniques and further explanations are available by clicking “help” at the top of the search screen.

Search Results: 

* If you have not marked any records, CSA will print, email or save all the records currently being viewed.

Alerts

From your results screen, click on the SAVE/SEARCH Alert bar or the SEARCH HISTORY/ALERTS bar.  Check the searches for which you want to receive updates, then click the Save as Alert hyperlink. Enter your name and email address on the following screen, then click the CONTINUE button, and new citations which meet your search strategy will be sent to your email each week until the expiration date.