Encyclopedias, dictionaries, and biographical and statistical sources are useful starting points when you need some background, or references to a few key articles, or to familiarize yourself with key terms, issues, events, or people.
McGraw-Hill AccessScience: Encyclopedia of Science and Technology Online Print version: Kresge Ref. Q121 .M3 Browse articles in the Astronomy and Space Science category, or search by keyword. Brief, reasonably up-to-date articles with reading lists.
Encyclopedia of astronomy and astrophysics Print version: Kresge Ref QB14 .E54 2001 Includes a detailed index, easy to understand definitions, data, authoritative articles and a news section. Online and print.
Encyclopedia of the solar system Kresge QB501 .E53 1999 edited by Paul R. Weissman, Lucy-Ann McFadden, Torrence V. Johnson. San Diego : Academic Press, c1999.
History of Astronomy: An Encyclopedia Kresge QB15 .H624 1997 A-Z short entry summaries of astronomy: terms, instruments, astronomers, advances. Includes some photos and drawings.
The Extraterrestrial Encyclopedia : an Alphabetical Reference to All Life in the Universe Kresge Ref. QB54 .D365 2000 Descriptions of extraterrestrial bodies.
Science fact and science fiction : an encyclopedia Baker Berry Q123 .S735 2006 Brian Stableford. New York : Routledge, c2006.
B. Finding Journal and News Articles Using Indexes
Articles in journals, magazines, and newspapers can be found using article indexes (searchable databases of article records). To get to the full text of articles, look for the ArticleLinker icon)or use the Library's Catalog to locate the journal.
A good starting strategy is to use Search 360 to search multiple article databases with one search.
Web of Science indexes about 8000 journals in all subject areas.This index is unique in that it tells you who has cited a particular paper, which is useful as a way to find related papers, and to track the influence of a particular paper. You can also search by topic, and the index is very up-to-date. Especially strong in the sciences and interdisciplinary fields. Coverage varies; journals in the social sciences are indexed back to 1956; science journals back to 1945.
Academic Search Premier an all-purpose, multidisciplinary database that you may already be familiar with. Contains both scholarly and popular articles.
General Science Abstracts Indexes about 250 popular and scholarly science and multidisciplinary journals, including: Astronomy, Sky and Telescope, Science,Scientific American, Nature, Physics Today, American Scientist; covers all the sciences.. Also indexes articles on science topics from the New York Times. Covers 1984- present.
Applied Science and Technology Abstracts 390 technical and engineering journals; covers space flight topics; journals include: Aviation Week and Space Technology, Geological Society of America Bulletin, Geology, Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences
Book Review Digest Provides descriptive summaries of books as well as excerpts of book reviews, with complete book review citations and all book reviews from other Wilson indexes. Books appear with all their reviews grouped together.
Search the Dartmouth library catalogto locate books, journals, and other items in the collections of all the Dartmouth libraries. Search by subject (using Library of Congress subject headings) or by keyword; you can also search for specific works by author, or by title.
Asteroid Belt Astronautics Astronomers, Astronomical Instruments -- History Astronomy, Ancient Astronomy, Arab Astronomy, Assyro-Babylonian Astronomy, Egyptian Astronomy, Greek Astronomy -- History Comets Cosmic Dust Cosmology Einstein, Albert Jupiter (planet) Kepler, Johannes Life on Other Planets Mars Exploration Mars (planet) Mars planet exploration Maya Astronomy Mercury (planet) Meteoroids Milky Way Neptune (planet) Newton, Isaac Sir 1642 - 1727 Outer Space Exploration Planetology - History Planets Exploration Planets Origin Pluto (planet) Saturn (planet) Science fiction Solar Activity Solar System Origin Solar Phenomena Space flight to Mars Space flights Space stations Stonehenge Sun Sunspots Venus (planet)
Many bibliographic databases, including the Library Catalog and many article indexes, use specific language to describe items -- subject headings or descriptors. Being aware of these subject terms can help you focus your search with great precision.
Tip: Note that the results of a subject search are listed alphabetically, by default. For a listing that shows the most recent publications first, choose "Limit/Sort," then "Sort Results by Year."
Another Good Tip: if you're not sure of the exact Library of Congress Subject Heading, use a Keyword search to locate a few items that are relevant to your topic. Then use the Subject Headings associated with those items to lead you to more relevant materials.
Keyword searches can be made to search for your terms in specific fields (subject, author, title) by using field tags ( s: or a: or t: ). With a little creativity, you can use this technique with great success, as shown here (example: s:cosmology and t:philosoph* )
In addition to search engines like Google, Yahoo, or Ask.com, try internet directories -- annotated guides to selected Internet resources. Browse by topic headings, or search by keyword within categories. Great way to focus!
The Scout Report Archives Search, or browse by subject headings, over this collection of over nine years' worth of critical annotations of selected Internet sites, mailing lists, and other online resources.
Style guides provide accepted standards to follow when preparing research papers for publication. Sources is the Dartmouth College general guide to citing sources, and contains required reading about plagiarism and when, and how, to cite material you are using for a paper or presentation. You can also find more examples in this online style handbook: Research and Documentation Online.
RefWorks RefWorks is a web-based reference management program that allows users to create their own personal database of references by importing references from online article databases. RefWorks makes it easy to search, sort, and cite these references in writing papers and then to automatically format the paper and the bibliography. To get started with RefWorks, go to http://www.refworks.com and click on the "User Login" button on the menu bar. Then click on the "Sign up for an Individual Account" link and fill out the form. RefWorks in-context help, or the online tutorial, will guide you through the basics. See the overview for details on importing citations from various article databases into RefWorks.
BORROW DIRECT: Delivers books from the combined library catalogs of Brown, Columbia, Cornell, the University of Pennsylvania, Princeton, and Yale within 4 business days.
Please fill out the DartDoc Form for documents that are in Storage or that are not in the Dartmouth Library system (Interlibrary Loan requests). See the Document Delivery webpage for more details on these services.
You can also use the Request Selected Item feature of the Library Catalog to request books or articles from Storage.
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Off-Campus Access
ArticleLinker icon)or use the Library's 