Water Resources

Below are the top ranked and most commonly used databases for this subject area. Most, but not all, of the articles in these databases are scholarly/peer reviewed.  For a complete list of databases, see the A-Z Databases List page. You may also use the subject drop-down menu on the databases page and select "water."

Searching in the research databases can be a bit tricky. If you keep a few tips in mind, you will create better search strategies.

Boolean logic or boolean searching (named after George Boole) uses logical words/terms (and  or not)  to combine words or terms.

Truncation symbols, usually the asterisk * symbol, give you extra searching options for the endings of words.

Wildcard symbols, usually the question mark ? symbol, replaces a letter or letters in the middle of a word.

Phrase searching, to keep words together as a phrase, you usually use the quote marks around the phrase "words together"

Searching by author, sometimes you search by last name, then use ONLY initials; other times you can use lastname, first name. Web of Science uses author lastname, FI MI  (last name, first initial middle initial: Wilson, AB)

Boolean Examples

humpback chub AND colorado:  articles must have the words humpback chub and also the word colorado

humpback chub OR gila cypha:  articles may have EITHER the words humpback chub OR gila cypha

      IT is always a good idea to search for both the common name and the scientific name for an animal, plant, organism, etc.

dolphins NOT Miami: articles must have the word dolphins but CAN NOT have the word Miami (NOT is very powerful, be careful how it is used in your searches.)

Truncation Examples

wol*   searches for wolf, wolves, wolverine

agricultur*  searches for agriculture, agriculturally, agricultural

Wildcard Examples

wom?n  searches for woman or women

col?r  searches for color or colour

Phrase Examples

"global warming" keeps the words together so articles must have these two words side-by-side, global warming

Author Examples

Be careful when you search databases for an author. Sometimes the databases use last name and first name, sometimes they use last name and just the first initial and middle initial. For example if you are searching for articles by Dr. Barry Noon you might search by:

Noon, Barry
Noon B
Noon B* (the * is if you don't know the middle initial of their name, the * acts as a "wild card")