GEOG11023 Physical Geography of Australia

For your second assignment, you are required to write a term paper about the physical geography of some region of Australia.

For your first assignment, you are required to undertake a search for resources which could be used in your second assignment, and write a report on the search strategy you used.

This course guide is designed to provide you with a starting point for undertaking your search. It is divided into these sections:

• Beginning your search
• Searching the library catalogue
• Searching journal databases
• Some useful resources
• Referencing

Throughout the guide, there are links to sections in Compass: Library Help Online which will provide you will more detailed information.

For further details about your assignments, please consult your course CD-rom.

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Beginning your search

Whether you intend looking for information in a library catalogue, a journal database, or the world wide web, you will need a range of keywords to search with.

Your keywords may include your chosen region (Great Barrier Reef, Queensland), the five elements you need to cover (geology, climate, geomorphology, soils and biogeography) or any related term (vegetation, land, natural resources).

You might like to use a dictionary or encyclopedia to help clarify terms, and a thesaurus to find synonyms (i.e. words with similar meanings). The Geography program guide lists some dictionaries and encyclopedias relevant to the discipline.

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Searching the library catalogue

Use the Library catalogue to find books, video recordings and other items held at any of the CQU campuses.

If you don't have a specific resource in mind, try a Keyword Search.

Example:


Note: This search will return all records containing the word soils and the word queensland.

Note: If you're experiencing difficulty locating information on your specific region, try using the broader region as a keyword. For example, if you're looking for information about 'central queensland', you could also try 'queensland or 'australia'.

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Searching journal databases

To locate journal articles on your topic, you may need to search a range of electronic journal databases.

The Informit platform hosts a number of Australian databases and you can search more than one database at a time. 

Database	Subject focus
AHB	Australia's natural and cultural heritage
APAIS	Public policy and public affairs (broad coverage)
APAFT	Public policy and public affairs (broad coverage) Note: APA-FT provides full-text access to some of the resources indexed in APAIS.
ELIXIR	Natural resources and environment
ENDANGER	Endangered species
EVA	Environment and planning
REEF	Great Barrier Reef
STREAMLINE	All aspects of natural resource management, including land resources, vegetation resources and water resources.

Note: Only APAFT has any full-text availability. If you find an article isn't available in full-text, make sure you check the Library catalogue to see if it is available via another database.

Expanded Academic ASAP is another database which you may find useful for its geographical content.  Expanded Academic ASAP is an international multidisciplinary database which covers a range of subjects and has a North American focus rather than an Australian focus. Many of the articles indexed by this database are also available in full-text.

 

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Some useful resources

- Dictionaries and Encyclopedias

Title	Call Number
The Penguin dictionary of physical geography (2000)	910.020321 1/2000
The Australian encyclopaedia (1996) [8 volumes]	994.003 1/1996

- Books and Atlases

Title	Call Number
Atlas of Australian resources (3rd series) 1. Soils and land use 2. Population 3. Agriculture 4. Climate 5. Geology and minerals 6. Vegetation	912.94 1/1980
Atlas of Victoria (1982)	912.945 1
Atlas of New South Wales (1987)	912.944 1
Climatic Atlas of Australia (1979) 1. Temperature 2. Global radiation 3. Evaporation 4. Sunshine 5. Rainfall 6. Relative humidity 7. Cloud	912.15516994 1
Climatic atlas of Australia: evapotranspiration (2001)	551.5720994 1
Climatic atlas of Australia: rainfall (2000)	551.577294 2
Reef, range and red dust: the adventure atlas of Queensland (1993)	912.943 7
Soils, an Australian viewpoint	631.4994 2

Note: General sources such as the 'Atlas of Australian Resources' and 'Reef, Range and Red Dust' are excellent sources of information as they contain maps and commentary for each of the five elements (geology, climate, geomorphology, soils and biogeography) that should be covered in your paper.

- Maps

Title	Locations
Geological series of maps (MAP 8961...)	Map cabinets
Geoscience Australia	Website
Raster Maps	Library computers

- Journals

Title	Call Number
Australian Geographer	s910 34
Old title: Australian Geographical Studies New title: Geographical Research - print holdings - electronic holdings	s910 35
Geographical Review	s910 38
Journal of Geography	s910 42
National Geographic	s910 43

Note: Some of these journals will be available in print; some will be available electronically through one of the database subscribed to by the Library. Click on the title to check the holdings.

- Websites

• Australian Natural Resources Atlas
• Commonwealth Bureau of Meteorology
• Department of the Environment and Water Resources - Commonwealth
• Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry - Commonwealth
• Department of Mines and Energy - Queensland
• Department of Natural Resources and Water - Queensland
• Geoscience Australia
• Google Earth
• Google Local (Note: This is a cut-down, web version of Google Earth.)
• Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority
• State of the Environment Australia

Note: Another useful resource is the Library's Successful Web Searching page - pay particular attention to the information under Evaluating websites.

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Referencing