Forestry

Articles and Databases
Books
Reference Materials
Internet Sites
Evaluating Information
Citing Sources

Articles and Databases

Core Resources

CAB Abstracts covers forestry and the management/conservation of natural resources.
Agricola includes journals and government publications on forestry and agriculture.
Wildlife & Ecology Studies Worldwide covers all aspects of wildlife management.

Also of interest

Web of Science (cited references) uses "cited ref" search to look for new articles that cite an older article.
Environmental Sciences covers pollution, ecology, other environmental topics.
Dissertations and Theses includes dissertations from most U.S. institutions.

Don't forget: Try These First if you want general popular interest magazines and newspapers or pro and con debate information.

Article Search Tips: Finding the best articles on your topic requires a number of steps:

Select a database from the list above.
Enter and combine terms appropriate to your topic
Look at the best references you retrieve and determine the subject terms used for those articles. Then revise your search using these new terms.
Write down or print off all pertinent information (called the 'citation') including the journal title, volume, date, and page numbers.
Explore other databases and subject terms (which vary between databases) for more information.

Get the full text: Once you find the citation in a database, try the button to see if Penn State has the electronic or print version of the article you need. If the electronic version is available, it will appear as the first link on the Get it! menu. If the article is not available electronically, click on The CAT link to automatically search our catalog and see if Penn State has a print copy. If no other copy is available, you can use the ILLiad link to request it from another library.

Already have a citation? Use Citation Linker to see if Penn State has it online or in print!

Selected Journal Titles

Books

Use The CAT for finding books owned by Penn State.

CAT Search Tips: The CAT is the list of what is owned by Penn State Libraries. Go to the Browse function if you are looking for a specific title or author (type last name first). Go to the Keyword function and combine terms to search on a topic then use the subject headings from relevant books for additional search terms. Write down the call number and location for any book you want. For more detailed searching information go to the Quick Guide to the CAT.

Call Numbers: Both University Park and Mont Alto have extensive forestry collections. To request a circulating item from another campus, use the "I Want It" button. General call numbers and subject areas are:

QK – Botany (UP location: 4th floor Paterno)
SB – Plant Culture (UP location: 4th floor Paterno)
SD – Forestry (UP location: 4th floor Paterno)
TA – Engineering materials, including timber (UP location: 3rd floor Paterno & Engineering Library, 325 Hammond)
TS – Wood Technology (UP location: 3rd floor Paterno)

Titles of Interest

Elsevier's dictionary of forestry : in English, German, French and Russian (SD126.D455 2004)

Forest conservation policy : a reference handbook (SD412.S26 2004)

Forest fires : a reference handbook (SD421.O64 2005)

Opportunities in forestry careers (SD387.F6M84 2004)

Books Elsewhere: WorldCat

Libraries Borrowing Policies: Once you have the books, check them out at the nearest lending desk or self check-out station. Loan periods are usually four weeks but books can be recalled for another user, so respond promptly to library notices. For more information see the University Libraries Lending Code.

Reference Materials

General Resources

Encyclopedia of Forest Science provides good overviews of forestry topics.
Soil Surveys provide soil maps and interpretations needed in guiding decisions about soil selection, use, and management.
Access Science is an online science encyclopedia.
Dictionaries of forestry topics provide definitions of technical terms.
Gale Virtual Reference Library has handbooks and encyclopedias on environment and plants.
NetLibrary has books on sustainable forestry, timber, environmental history and related topics. For access off-campus, see these instructions.
Knovel has some handbooks with chapters on wood products.

Internet Sites

Certain articles databases, such as Environmental Sciences & Pollution Management, include pre-vetted web sites, usually from government sources or reputable organizations.

Government sources often provide full-text documents. Try U.S. Forest Service sites such as:

FS Info - includes natural resources references to journal papers, conference papers, technical reports and government documents from 1904 to the present. Search by author, title, subject, publication series or research station.
TreeSearch - includes research monographs published by the agency as well as papers written by USFS scientists but published by other organizations in their journals, conference proceedings, or books, from 2004 to date with older publications being added. Search listings by author, keyword (title & abstract), originating Station or date.

You can also look for forestry information on the Internet by using a specialized Search Engine such as:

Scirus - Search engine designed to find scientific information
Google Scholar - Subset of Google used to find scholarly information; set preferences to search for Penn State information
Infomine - Biological, Agricultural & Medical Sciences - Search engine for pre-vetted scholarly web sites

Other Resources

PSU School of Forest Resources http://www.sfr.cas.psu.edu
PA Bureau of Forestry http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/forestry
USDA Forest Service http://www.fs.fed.us
Society of American Foresters http://www.safnet.org
Arbor Day Foundation http://www.arborday.org/trees/index.cfm; includes the online tree identification guide "What Tree is That" http://www.arborday.org/trees/whattree/
AGNIC (Agriculture Network Information Center) http://www.agnic.org/ has links to conferences on invasive species, soils, and other pertinent topics, and links to important forestry library partners, such as the Forestry Library at the University of Minnesota http://forestry.lib.umn.edu/

Evaluating Information

To evaluate print sources and web sites, you should ask a series of questions concerning the source’s currency, authority, validity, intended audience and bias. See this How to Evaluate Information site for details.

Citing Sources

When using information from another source you must give credit to the original author by citing the source. See this guide to citation styles for more details.

See this Statement on Plagiarism and Academic Dishonesty. Plagiarism, whether you copy a paragraph from a book or cut and paste someone else's words from an e-mail, is a violation of Penn State's academic integrity policy.