GeoSciences
Overview
A warm welcome to the University of Edinburgh Library. This guide aims to help you with information on library resources, services and facilities for your subject. You can explore the different topics using the left-hand navigation
Finding Library Resources - DiscoverEd
Use DiscoverEd to find books, ebooks, journals, ejournals and more. Sign into your Library Account using your University Login to manage your loans.
For books in print, please check the book location (both Library and floor) as GeoSciences books may be held in the Main Library (George Square) and/or Murray Library (King's Buildings).
Key Databases
Multidisciplinary databases of peer-reviewed literature and conference proceedings.
- ScopusAbstract and citation database containing both peer-reviewed research literature and quality web sources. Covers journals from health, life, physical and social sciences and the humanities.
- Web of Science This link opens in a new windowCitations and abstracts to millions of journal articles and conference proceedings from all subjects. Impact factors, h-indexes and email alerts available.
Earth and Planetary Science
- GeoScienceWorld This link opens in a new windowA comprehensive resource for research across the geosciences, built on a database of peer-reviewed journals and integrated with GeoRef.
- Lyell CollectionFeatures the full-text content of the Geological Society journals, special publications and society book series. The content is fully searchable.
- OnePetroSPEOnePetro is a library of technical documents, conference proceedings and journal articles serving the oil and gas exploration and production industry.
Agriculture
- CAB AbstractsCAB Abstracts is the world's leading agricultural database. Find journals, books, conferences and reports. It covers significant research and development literature in the fields of animal and crop husbandry, animal and plant breeding, plant protection, genetics, forestry, veterinary medicine, aspects of human health, human nutrition, rural development, leisure and tourism and the management and conservation of natural resources. Coverage: 1910-present.
More resources for Geosciences
Full database list A-Z
Key Databases for Social Policy
- Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts (ASSIA)Indexing and abstracting tool covering health, social services, psychology, sociology, economics, politics, race relations and education. Updated monthly, ASSIA provides a comprehensive source of social science and health information for the practical and academic professional. It contains records from over 500 journals published in 16 different countries, including the UK and US.
- International Bibliography of the Social Sciences (IBSS)Produced by the British Library of Political and Economic Science, International Bibliography of the Social Sciences (IBSS) is an essential online resource for social science and interdisciplinary research focusing on the four core social science subjects of anthropology, economics, politics, and sociology. IBSS includes over 2.5 million bibliographic references to journal articles, books, reviews and selected chapters dating back to 1951.
- PAIS InternationalThis resource covers issues in the public debate through selective coverage of a wide variety of international sources including journal articles, books, government documents, statistical directories, grey literature, research reports, conference papers, web content, and more.
- Policy CommonsBuilt around a directory of over 21,000 policy organisations, the Policy Commons database provides access to 2.4 million books, articles, working papers, reports, policy briefs, data sets, tables, charts, media, case studies, and statistical publications from organisations including inter-governmental organisations, non-governmental organisations, think-tanks and other research centres, providing a unique body of knowledge that can otherwise be difficult to find. The search interface also enables searching for tables within reports. Registered users can receive alerts of material added to the database.
- Sociology Source UltimateThis fulltext database features more than 2.1 million records with subject headings from a 20,000+ term sociological thesaurus designed by subject experts and expert lexicographers. Sociology Source Ultimate contains full text for more than 1000 journals dating back to 1908. This database also includes full text for more than 1000 books and monographs, and full text for over 40,000 conference papers. Sociology Source Ultimate features more than 26,000 author profiles covering the most cited and most influential authors in the database, who are experts in their field.
Research and Statistical Data
- OECD iLibraryThe iLibrary provides access to a substantial amount of free content, including the OECD Factbook, OECD Working Papers, Key Tables, Multilingual Summaries and most 'At a Glance' publications.
Not all content is subscribed to. An alternative source is the UK Data Service's UKDS.Stat service. Access to full content is also available from the National Library of Scotland. Registration required. Please note your main address must be in Scotland - UK Data ServiceThe UK Data Service (UKDS) is a comprehensive resource funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and delivered by the UK Data Archive to provide researchers with support, training and access to the UK’s largest collection of social, economic and population data.
Digital maps and data
- DigimapDigimap is an online map and data delivery service. Digimap offers a number of data collections, including Ordnance Survey, historical, geological, LiDAR and marine maps and spatial data. Users are required to register and agree the data licence.
The Digimap service delivers maps and map data of Great Britain. Maps can be viewed, annotated and printed and data can be downloaded for use in GIS or CAD software. Subscribed collections are listed below. Users are required to register and agree the data licence.
| Aerial | Aerial Digimap provides detailed aerial imagery data from Getmapping at various fixed scales. Most data is post-2011 with updates due each year. |
| agCensus | Agricultural Census data for England, Scotland and Wales downloadable or visualised as grid square estimates at 2km, 5km and 10km level of resolution. |
| Environment | Land cover mapping from the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH). Range of data covering 1990- 2019. |
| Geology | Geology Digimap provides onshore and offshore mapping from the British Geological Survey, scales ranging from 1:625,000 to 1:50,000. There is also access to the Lexicon of Named Rock Units, which has details for many of the rocks found on the map. |
| Global |
Global Digimap's primary content is OpenStreetMap and will also include Natural Earth data. |
| Historic | Historic Digimap provides Landmark historic Ordnance Survey maps of Great Britain from 1843 to 1996. Maps include County Series (1843-1939), post-war National Grid and Town Plans (1840’s – 1930’s). |
| Lidar | Lidar Download allows you to select and download Lidar data for use in GIS/CAD software. Lidar Digital Terrain Model, Lidar Digital Surface Model and point cloud data are available. There is no Lidar Roam. |
| Marine | Marine Digimap provides marine and coastal zone mapping from Oceanwise, the service includes raster marine maps of various scales and detail (derived from Admiralty Charts), which are ideal for back-drop mapping in the UK coastal zone, vector thematic marine data suitable for advanced spatial analysis, and customised mapping. |
| OS | Ordnance Survey Digimap provide contemporary OS Map Data and Ordnance Survey Products. |
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Society Digimap allows you to explore census and other demographic datasets by providing these datasets as layers to visualise along with Ordnance Survey data. |
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| Verisk | Collection consists of: UKMap a modern, highly detailed mapping database of Greater London. UKBuildings regularly updated to help you understand the age, structure, characteristics and use, of commercial, public and residential buildings across GB. UKLand a national land information database providing a detailed breakdown of the use of land across the UK. |
For Digimap enquiries contact edina@ed.ac.uk
Google Scholar provides a simple way to broadly search for scholarly literature. From one place, you can search across many disciplines and sources: articles, theses, books, abstracts and court opinions, from academic publishers, professional societies, online repositories, universities and other web sites
Access eresources using Google Scholar
Google Scholar may not provide access to full-text, however, by linking to the Library you can access full-text where there is a University subscription.
- Selecting Settings from the top of the Google Scholar Home Page
- Selecting Library Links
- Search for University of Edinburgh. Select it from the list and Save your settings
You will now see FindIt@Edinburgh links next to items in your Google Scholar results that you can use to access the full-text.
- Google Dataset SearchDataset Search enables users to find datasets stored across the Web through a simple keyword search. The tool surfaces information about datasets hosted in thousands of repositories.
Google Patents is a search engine from Google that indexes patents and patent applications.
Exams and Revision
This guide contains key information about the following topics:
- Preparing for your exams: Resources to help you develop your study skills
- Using e-books for revision and exams: Information about searching effectively, using DiscoverEd and Resource Lists to find e-books and tips for effectively studying with e-books
- Managing your information: Advice about how to manage and back-up your files, and keep on top of your references and reading
Full guide here
Your Academic Support Librarian
- Feedback FormSuggestions or feedback on this guide are welcome. Please get in touch via the form.
For help with finding library resources for your literature search or referencing
Finding Library Resources
The print collection for GeoSciences are held in the Main Library, George Square or the Noreen and Kenneth Murray Library, King's Buildings. Book location information is shown in DiscoverEd.
Main Library
Noreen & Kenneth Murray Library
Libraries also provide open-access computing, printing and a range of study spaces
Location and opening hours: Main Library; Noreen and Kenneth Murray Library
Resource Lists
Resource Lists are online reading lists that can signpost you to key reading materials. Some of your courses may have a Resource List embedded in the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) but you can also access them directly. Full details are available on the Resource Lists: Information for Students webpage.
Other disciplinces
Subject Guides from other disciplines can be a useful source of ideas and information. Some focus on a topic such as newspapers as well as others that are more subject specific e.g. economics, law etc. A full list of subject guides is available on the university website.
Can't find what you need?
Request a book, or other resource
To request a new journal subscription, or other resource, please send an email using the 'Email Me' link.
Citing and Referencing
IAD referencing guidance
Citing and referencing is an important part of good academic practice. Guidance from the Institute of Academic Development (IAD)
Cite Them Right Online.
An online tool to help you to understand referencing for a range of sources.
- Referencing and reference managementInformation on referencing and the tools that can help you.
News - search across multiple sources
International news including Dow Jones and Reuters newswires. Also company profiles, industry and stock market information. No images including.
Nexis and international news, business and industry information. No images included.
- News sourcesFull guide on news and media sources (historic and modern)
