Guides
Wayfinders for our collections, tools, and servicesEARTH 100: Research Preparation for Undergraduates: Where to start
This guide is designed to help students prepare for conducting research with the faculty.
Starting your search
If you're new to using library resources, there is a guide just for you. The Library Research Quickstart Guide includes information about how to use Searchworks, the library catalog, tips for finding online resources, and how to find and evaluate sources.
- Library quickstart guideA research guide on getting started with Stanford Libraries resources and tools
General databases
If you're not sure where to start on a topic, it's often helpful to begin by searching a few different databases that cover your topic area. Some databases are general and others quite specific for specialized disciplines.
- ScopusScopus, launched in November 2004, is the largest abstract and citation database containing both peer-reviewed research literature and quality web sources. With over 18,500 titles from more than 5,000 international publishers, SciVerse Scopus offers researchers a quick, easy and comprehensive resource to support their research needs in the scientific, technical, medical and social sciences fields and, more recently, also in the arts and humanities.
- Web of science core collectionWeb of Science Core Collection provides access to the world's leading citation databases. Authoritative, multidisciplinary content covers journals worldwide, including Open Access journals and conference proceedings. Includes current and retrospective coverage in the sciences, social sciences, arts, and humanities, with coverage to 1900.
- Google ScholarGoogle's search engine for scholarly research.
Specialized databases
- Agricultural & environmental science database"This database includes the AGRICOLA, ESPM, and EIS databases and provides full-text titles from around the world, including scholarly journals, trade and industry journals, magazines, technical reports, conference proceedings, government publications, and more. For those researchers who need to conduct comprehensive literature reviews, this database includes specialized, editorial-controlled A&I resources for discovery of relevant scholarly research and technical literature critical to the discipline."
- GeoRefCovers worldwide technical literature on geology and geophysics ... GEOREF organizes and indexes papers from over 4,500 serials and other publications representative of the interests of the twenty professional geological and earth science societies that are members of the AGI.
- GeoScienceWorldServes as a comprehensive resource for research and communications in the geological and earth sciences. It is built on a core database aggregation of peer-reviewed journals indexed, linked, and inter-operable with GeoRef.
- OnePetroOnePetro.org is a multi-society library that provides a simple way to search for and access a broad range of technical literature related to the oil and gas exploration and production industry. From one place, you can search and buy documents from many different professional societies, or similar organizations, that serve the oil and gas industry.
