UCB Libraries

Reference Resources

World Energy Outlook CU
This annual report from the International Energy Agency (also available in print) provides numbers on consumption, production, projects and special topics in Energy.

International Energy Outlook
This annual publication from the Energy Information Administration provides data on energy consumption and production.

Reference Universe CU
Reference Universe is a database that contains the table of contents and indexes of reference books. You can use this database to find titles that we have electronically and in print.

Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports CU
The Congressional Research Service (CRS) is the research arm of Congress. CRS reports are short (usually) background briefs prepared for members of Congress on any issue that is a topic of discussion. They are well researched, non-partisan, and include bibliographies that lead to more information.

The library catalog, Chinook, is the best place to get started searching for books. These sections will provide examples on how to find books and tips for searching the catalog.

You will find in Chinook a number of reference sources that will provide assistance in starting your research. They can give you a broad overview of the topic and assistance on finding additional more in-depth sources.

 

Basic Keyword Search

1. Go to Chinook and type in the search terms china oil polic*.
   The * replaces up to five characters. Polic* finds policy, policies, etc.
2. You can use the links to the left and narrow down the list of resources. For example, if you only want books, not journals, click on eBooks.
   
3. This gives us a nice set of results, but the third title looks the most interesting. So click on Energy Economics: Modeling and Emperical Analysis in China This record can lead us to other relevant titles. If you scroll down to "Subject" you will see there are descriptions of what this book is about. To find more relevant books (similar to this one), click on Energy Policy - China.

Advanced Keyword Search

1. Go to Chinook and click on Chinook Classic Advanced Keyword Search.
2. In the first box type "africa". In the second box, change the drop-down to "Subject" and type politic* or polic*. In the third box, type the term "oil"
   Tips: The * replaces up to 5 characters and choosing subject gets you a more refined, focused set of results.
3. You get a nice set or results, but let's click on Energy Security: An Interdisciplinary Approach.
4. In the record you have a number of options. You can click on a subject heading, such as Energy Policy or click on the Show Similar Items box at the top of the record. Below you will get more details on both.
   • Subject Headings: In advanced keyword, not only can you search by subject heading, but you can also browse the subject headings around the one listed in this record. For example, if you click on Energy Policy you will see that you can see 282 books on this topic or focus in on 2 on Energy Policy - Africa.
   • Show Similar Items: This button takes the first three subject headings and searches the catalog for other titles with these topics. Generally, this results in a set of books that will be dealing with topics similar to the record you start with.
5. Finding the books: In this version of the catalog, all the location codes are hyperlinked to maps of where those materials are located in the libraries.

There are a number of terms to try when searching Chinook, but here are some suggestions:

• China India economic*
  This will find economic books on both China and India.
• Middle East polic*
  Not finding what you are looking for by searching for an individual country? Sometimes searching by the name of the broader region (Middle East instead of Israel) will get more results.
• Russia Ukraine energy
  Think in broad terms. If you are interested in natural gas politics in Russia and Ukraine, this broader search (energy instead of natural gas) will get you more results.
• United States Mexico politic*
  Sometimes these searches will bring up electronic databases of resources on a particular topic. Such as HAPI: Hispanic American Periodicals Index in this result set.
• France Germany energy
  Don't forget those facets on the side of the screen. On the right-hand side you can use the "Refine by Tag" box to focus your search in further.

There are two major library catalogs to search for materials not available at CU.

Prospector

Prospector is a library catalog of many libraries in Colorado and Wyoming. CU students, staff and faculty can request materials not held by CU (or those currently checked out) through Prospector. To do this, click on the "Request this item" or "Request it" link and type in your identikey and password. The materials requested through this database generally (if they are available at another library) take 3-5 business days to arrive.

WorldCat CU

WorldCat is a database of library resources from across the world. Requesting materials through this database is an ILL request. To learn more about ILL, check out their web page.

Find Articles and More

This is the main site to use to find all the databases available at CU. There are a few categories that you may be most interested in:

• Political Science - General
• Economics - Scholarly Sources
• International Area Studies -- General
• International Area Studies - Africa/Middle East
• International Area Studies - Asia
• International Area Studies - Europe
• International Area Studies - Latin America
• International Area Studies - Statistics

Scholarly Articles

PAIS CU
This database is an interdisciplinary index of journals, books and publications that cover global public policy and social issues including health, finance, economics, education, technology, and the environment for the U.S. and abroad.
Tips:
1. This database is an index, which means that for most titles you will need to use "Find it at CU" to find a majority of the materials indexed.
2. When you find an article that covers the topics you are interested in use the "Descriptors" to focus in on other articles in this database on those topics.

EconLit CU
This database is an index of journals, books, dissertations and working papers in economic and finance.
1. This database is an index, which means that for most titles you will need to use "Find it at CU" to find a majority of the materials indexed.
2. When you find an article that covers the topics you are interested in use the "Descriptors" to focus in on other articles in this database on those topics.

JSTOR CU
This database provides full-text access to articles from scholarly journals in history, economics, political science, demography, mathematics and other fields in the humanities and social sciences.
Tips:
1. This database does NOT have current access to a majority of the journals in JSTOR. This means if your topic is a current event, this database will not work out as well.
2. The default is to search the full text of the articles. If you are getting to many results go to advanced search and search only the abstract and/or title.

Web of Science CU
An interdisciplinary index that provides bibliographic citations for high-impact journals in the disciplines of science, social sciences, and arts and humanities.
Tips:
1. This is an abstract database, which means it has NO full text. To find full text of the article, click "Find it at CU."
2. The citation field in this database can help you determine the impact of a particular article. If an article has been out for 10 years and no one has cited it then it has little impact.
3. Don't forget to use those facets on the side to refine by subject, article type and/or year.

Global Market Information Database CU
This database, provided by Euromonitor, is primarily a resource on international markets and business. It provides timely and relevant reports on a variety of international issues. If you want an overview of the population of a particular country and some of the major issues this is a good place to go.

Want to access these databases from off-campus? Check out the off-campus guide for help.

If you want a copy of an article from a journal there are two options.

Option 1: Get a Copy Electronically

1. Get your citation. You may have a citation to the article in a bibliography or maybe you found it using a database, either way will work.
2. Go to Chinook and type in the Journal title (if you are looking at a bibliographic citation this is generally the title in italics).
3. In this record you will see a "Request a PDF (UCB only)" note in the box with all the years covered information. Click on that link.
4. It will ask if you have checked to see if we have a copy electronically, if you have then click the yes button. If not, choose no and follow those steps. (The following steps will be for the folks who choose yes.)
5. You will need to login to ILLiad, the very first time you do this it will ask a series of question, you only need to fill that form out once.
6. Once in ILLiad, choose "Article" under New Requests.
7. Type in all the citation information you can here. The more you include the better, but don't worry if you can't fill in all the fields. Only the ones with the asterisks are required.
8. Click "Submit Request" at the bottom.
9. You can now logout of ILLiad, you will get an email when your article has been scanned.
10. There will be a link in your email to ILLiad, after you login click on "Articles Received" under "View."
11. The process of scanning in the article should only take 1 business day.

Option 2: Get the Journal at the Library

1. Get your citation. You may have a citation to the article in a bibliography or maybe you found it using a database, either way will work.
2. Go to Chinook and type in the Journal title (if you are looking at a bibliographic citation this is generally the title in italics).
3. Choose the record with title that does not have [electronic resource] next to it.
4. At the top of the page click on the "REQUEST IT!" button.
5. Login using your identikey and password and choose a pickup location.
6. Choose the volume you want. (At this time you can only choose one volume at a time, if you need to recall a large set of volumes, please contact Circulation for assistance.)
7. Hit the "Request Selected Item" button.
8. You will get an email when your volume arrives, which should be within 1 business day.