Search & Find
PLG 497s: New Urbanism and Sustainability in the Southwest
PLANNING 497s/597s
UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA LIBRARY
Chris Kollen
Planning Librarian
520-621-4869
Main - A209
kollenc@u.library.arizona.edu
Blackwell House by Judith Chafee, 1979, © VCR, Architecture and Landscape Architecture, The University of Arizona
Background Information
Encyclopedia Britannica Online
Another place to find overview information. When you enter this database, simply type in your topic and the first few entries will get you started.
A great online source for locating background information.
Internet and Library Resources
Citation Guide
Learn about citation resources including citation guides for MLA, APA and the Chicago Manual of Style. Link to information about software for creating citations and bibliographies including Refworks and EndNote Web.
Critically Analyzing Information Sources
How to evaluate book and journal resources.
(Searchpath- Western Michigan University Library)
Short tutorial that is part of a module on citing sources with tips on avoiding plagiarism and examples of good and bad paraphrased statements with commentary. Brief explanation of copyright. Short quiz with feedback for each question and score at end.
Web-based bibliography and database manager for creating personal databases by importing references from text files or online databases. Users can automatically format papers and bibliographies in seconds.
A guide to online and print resources in Planning.
Arizona Geospatial Data and Maps
The Arizona Geospatial Data and Maps is the successor to the Arizona Electronic Atlas. This new site provides geospatial data to download and simple prepared maps you can view, save, or print. You will find all of the geospatial data you previously could download on the Arizona Electronic Atlas and the Arizona Historic Census GeoDatabase plus additional data not previously available.
Includes the 1990 and 2000 Census of Population and Housing, 2000-2007 American Community Survey, American FactFinder, and the Economic Census.
LexisNexis Statistical Insight
Great source to use for federal, state, local and international statistics. The statistics are either online or in the library (print or microfiche).
Comprehensive information on over 300 Web and print statistics resources ranging from Tucson and Arizona data, to country-level, to worldwide statistics. Coverage includes information on demographic, economic and historical data resources.
Statistical Resources on the Web
Great place to start for links to a multitude of statistical resources.
Finding Articles
Popular vs. Scholarly Articles (Guide)
Guide to how to tell the difference between scholarly and popular articles.
Use Finding Articles to find articles in journals, magazines and newspapers. For articles related to regional planning, the indexes listed below are good places to start.
Academic Search Complete
Guide
This is an excellent multidisciplinary index. It includes journal, magazine, and newspaper articles on almost every topic. About 2/3 of the articles are full-text.
Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals
This specialized index includes abstracts and citations to articles related to architecture, urban planning, design, historic preservation, and landscape architecture.
Index and abstracts to articles about geography, earth sciences, ecology, planning, geology and remote sensing from journals, books, proceedings, reports and dissertations.
Mostly full-text, this database includes newspaper articles, transcripts, and a variety of other sources. Often newspapers are the best resource for information related to a specific project, such as Civano here in Tucson.
For the most current information about a topic, or if you are focusing on a topic that is of more local significance than it is of national significance, Newspapers should be your first stop. It is often useful to go to the hometown paper. For access to local papers worldwide, try OnlineNewspapers.
JSTOR is an electronic archive of scholarly journals. It has both search and browse functions.
Online Journals
The following planning journals are available online. Any issues that are not available online can be ordered through the Library's InterLibrary Loan Service.
Finding Books
Use the catalog to find books related to your topic. You can try KEYWORD searching on your main topic AND any other keywords related to your topic. A subject search will provide you with an alphabetical listing of topics for this subject.
Creating and Finding Maps
Arizona Geospatial Data and Maps
The Arizona Geospatial Data and Maps is the successor to the Arizona Electronic Atlas. This new site provides geospatial data to download and simple prepared maps you can view, save, or print. You will find all of the geospatial data you previously could download on the Arizona Electronic Atlas and the Arizona Historic Census GeoDatabase plus additional data not previously available.
For additional geospatial data and links, go to the Library's GIS page
Print maps can be found through the Library catalog and are found in the Map Collection.
Web Searching
There are hundred of search engines available on the Web. If you find information on the web, make sure you evaluate the site before relying on it as a reputable source!
General Tips about Finding Information for your Research
The Library does not own every journal or book that you find in the indexes. Each index should have a link so that you can easily check to see if we own a journal. Books and book chapters need to be checked using the catalog.
If you don't initially find enough or the right kind of articles in an index, think of other words you could substitute. You will need to play around with your search terms to find the ones that work best.
You can access any of these indexes or databases from home, but you will need to have your NetID on hand, and a current borrower's record in the Library's database. If you are trying to access this from home and are having trouble, here is instructions on how to connect from home.
You can also access these databases from any computer on campus, including the ones in the Main, Science, and Fine Arts Libraries.
Finding information is just one part of the research process. The other half is writing a paper that accurately expresses your views and demonstrates that you understood both the research process and the information you found. If you need help with this part of the process, you can get help from the UA Writing Center. The Purdue University's Online Writing Lab can help you get started.
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