Geography Research Guide
Ask a Librarian for Help
Library Catalogs
Use the catalogs below to locate print and audio-visual materials.
- COD Library Catalog : For
items located in the COD Library. To find printed atlases, do
an advanced keyword search like this: ATLAS AND name of location
or topic.
- I-Share (formerly Illinet Online)
: A catalog of items located in 65 Illinois libraries.
- WorldCat:
For items located in libraries in this country and those around
the world. Use it to find citations to important items not held
at the COD Library.
Outline of the Library of Congress Classification System (what COD uses to shelve its books).
Other Nearby Public and Academic Libraries
Reference Works
These books are in the reference collection on the first floor
of the Library.
A List of other Library Reference Books about
Places
Online Texts
- "The Four Traditions of Geography." William D. Pattison. The Journal of Geography. Volume 63. Number 5. Pages 211-216.
- Fundamentals of Physical Geography.
- Geodesy for the Layman. U.S. Defense Mapping Agency, 1984.
- The Geography of Illinois, by Douglas Clay Ridgeley (University of Chicago Press, 1921 - Google Books)
- The Geography of Transportation Systems.
- Geologic Maps Guide. From the US Geological Survey and the National Park Service.
- GPS World magazine.
- How to Read Illinois Topographic Maps.
- Illinois: A Geographical Survey.
- Indigenous Landscapes: A Study in Ethnocartography (for Honduras, Panama, and Bolivia, 2001)
- Land Use History of North America. USGS.
- Military Geography for Professionals and the Public. DOD, 1998. (Very slow due to all the graphics.)
- An Outline of American Geography: Regional Landscapes of the United States. (1992)
- Outsmarting Smart Growth: Population Growth, Immigration, and the Problem of Sprawl. (2003)
- The Physical Environment: An Introduction to Physical Geography. (2003)
- Population and Land Use in Developing Countries.
- Rediscovering Geography: New Relevance for Science and Society.
- Urban Growth in American Cities: Glimpses of U.S. Urbanization. USGS, 2004.
- Using Maps in Geneaology.
Geographic Education
Related C.O.D. Library Research Guides
Article Indexes
Please be sure to have your
library
card available before you use these databases from off-campus.
- Academic Search Premier (1984-) An index of over 3000 magazines and journals covering a variety of topic areas. Provides references, abstracts, and sometimes the full-text of articles.
- African Geopolitics. Free online journal.
- Antipode journal online website, with some FREE CLASSIC and THEMED articles. FULL-TEXT ARTICES are available from 1998 until one year ago in the "Academic Search Premier" database listed above. This journal is indexed by the "Blackwell Synergy", "Electronic Collections Online", "Google Scholar," and "Ingenta Connect" citation indexes linked below, but they do not contain full-text articles. Copies of the articles may be requested for free through the Interlibrary Loan Service (click here).
- Blackwell Synergy. This is an index of articles published in journals that are printed by the Blackwell company. A wide variety of topics and journals are covered, but you only get bibliographic citations, no full-text articles. You can select a particular subject area to search in, or you can select a specific journal to search in by clicking on the broad subject, then selecting a small subject area from that next page, then selecting the particular journal title on the third page. You can move through the categories by clicking on the plus sign [+] to the left of the category name.
- Bulletin of the Illinois Geographical Society, Archived full-text issues for 1944-1984.
- Electronic Collections Online (ECO). This service provides citations only to thousands of journal articles.
- Expanded Academic Index ASAP (1980-) An index to over 2500
magazines and journals covering a variety of topic areas. Provides
references, abstracts, and sometimes the full-text of articles.
- FindArticles.com. Citations to millions of journal articles.
- The Free Library. A database of free magazine and journal articles.
- Google Scholar. This provides access to many free full-text articles, as well as citations to many other articles.
- Handbook of Latin American Studies. Citations-only database from the U.S. Library of Congress.
- Illinois Geographical Society Bulletin, Archived full-text issues for 1944-1984.
- IngentaConnect. This is an index to millions of journal articles, book chapters, reports, and more. Most are not available as full-text online items.
- Investigaciones Geograficas: Boletin del Instituto de Geografia . Free online journal (2000-) in Spanish from the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico.
- Latin American Periodicals Tables of Contents (LAPTOC). No full-text articles.
- Open Access Journals Directory (free full-text journal articles)
- Periodical Abstracts. This database has both citations and some full-text content for thousands of journal articles.
- Project MUSE. This database provides citations and abstracts only.
- SCIRUS. A search engine for citations to journal articles and links to web pages.
- More COD Library journal and newspaper article databases.
- Does the C.O.D. Library own the journal that I need?
- Explanation of the Difference Between Magazines and Journals
- How to Read a Research Article.
Maps for Your Research Projects / Papers / Reports, etc.
For maps that you can copy or print off to go with your research papers, you can always look in our multitude of encyclopedias and atlases, in both the Reference and General collections. In addition, you can take a look at these items as well:
- African History on File. Reference DT 20 .A 6194 1994.
- Asia on File. Reference DS 5 .A 795 1996.
- Charts on File. Reference AG 105 .C 44 1988.
- Environment on File. Reference QH 541.15 .M 64 E 58 1991.
- Geography on File. Reference G 1021 .F 25 1991.
- Historical Maps on File. Reference G 1030 .M 37 2002.
- Latin America on File. Reference G 1540 .T 6 1995.
- Latin American History on File. Reference F 1410 .C 439 1996.
- Outline Maps on File. Reference G 1046 .A 1 F 3 2002.
- Maps on File. Reference G 1021 .M 3.
- State Maps on File. Reference G 1200 .F 3 1984.
- Weather and Climate on File. Reference QC 864 .W 43 2001.
- INTERNET SITES
Internet Sites
-
College of DuPage Geography Academic Program
- About.Geography. This is a portal to numerous other sites full of information.
- Aerial
Photographs and Satellite Images from the USGS.
- American Attitudes: Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA).
- American Geographical Society.
- American Memory: Online Map Collections from the Library of Congress.
- Ancient World Mapping Center at the University of North Carolina.
- Asian Studies WWW Virtual Library, a portal to a wide variety of resources.
- Ask City. This resource is great for business research, as you can plot where businesses are located.
- Association of American Geographers.
- Atlas Nacional de Mexico. (Mapas Tematicos de Mexico)
- Atlas of Canada. (History, politics, exploration, resources, demographics)
- Atlas of Our Changing Environment: One Planet, Many People. From the United Nations Environment Programme.
- Atlas of the Oceans (U.N.)
- Careers in Geography.
- Chicago and Cook County, Illinois - Digital Atlas.
- Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) online maps for buses, METRA, and The "EL".
- CIA Maps. From the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.
- Ciudad Juarez Femicide Declassification Project.
- Classicial History maps from Virgil.org.
- Community Statistics by Zip Code.
- Country Background
Notes from the U.S. State Department.
- Country Information and Statistics, from World Audit.org.
- Country Reports.org. A collection of cultural, historical, statistical, and geographic information about countries.
- County Soil Surveys from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
- Country Statistics and Reports from the Population Reference Bureau
- Country
Studies - Area Handbooks (Library of Congress, textbooks on countries)
- Ditigital Atlas of Chicago and Cook County, Illinois.
- DuPage County Flood Maps.
- DuPage County Interactive Map of Communities.
- Fire Insurance Maps for Illinois from Sanborn
- Forced Migration Online: A World of Information on Human Displacement.
- GAPMINDER.org. This organization creates online charts and graphs for various socio-economic statistical topics.
- Geography Programs at Illinois Colleges and Universities. Interactive map.
- Geography
Sites from Librarian's Index to the Internet
- Geography:
Definitive Collection of Net Links http://geography.tqn.com/mlibrary.htm
- Geography Network. Online access to maps, data, organizations, reports, and other information.
- Geosource. International sources on geography, demography, environment.
- GIS Atlas for Indiana.
- Global Map Projector. Projects maps onto a globe.
- Global Rural - Urban Mapping Project.
- Global Urban Research Unit (GURU).
- Google Earth! Combine satellite images with maps and photos to visually explore the world.
- Google Maps Mania! Here one can find a list of many different sites that combine Google maps with other data on some topic.
- Government Accountability Office. Official reports on U.S. government operations.
- Green Infrastructure Mapping in Wisconsin, Illinios, and Indiana.
- Historical Atlas of the 20th Century.
- Historical Maps Online, from the David Rumsey Map Collection.
- Historical Maps Online, from the University of Illinois Library.
- HousingMaps.com. Shows on Google maps where property is for sale or rent.
- IllinoisAtlas.com.
http://www.IllinoisAtlas.com/
- Illinois College and University Geography Programs. Interactive map.
- Illinois County Four Corner Coordinates.
- Illinois Fire Insurance Maps from Sanborn
- Illinois Geographical
Alliance. http://www.coe.ilstu.edu/iga/
- Illinois: Geography and Landforms.
- Illinois
Geospatial Information. http://www.finditillinois.org/geospatial.html/
- Illinois
19th Century Township Plats. http://landplats.ilsos.net/Flash/Welcome.html
- Illinois Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps
- Illinois Township Plat Maps, 1804 - 1891.
- InfoPlease Atlas. This site has basic maps and information about the world's countries.
- Inter-American Development Bank (IADB).
- International
Data Base http://www.census.gov/ftp/pub/ipc/www/idbnew.html
- International Monetary Fund (IMF).
- Land Use Interpretation Database
- Library of Congress Online Map Collections.
- Local
Transportation Maps. http://www.rtachicago.com/services/systemmpa.asp
- Map History. http://www.maphistory.info
- Map Machine from National Geographic.
- Map of the World in 1945.
- Maps
and References (Univ. of Iowa Ctr. For Global & Regional
Environmental Research)
- Migration Information Sources.
- Migration Policy Institute Information page.
- Nationmaster. You can use this site to find statistics and make charts.
- National Council for Geographic Education.
- National Geographic. http://www.nationalgeographic.com
- National Geologic Map Database (NGMDB). U.S. Geological Survey.
- National Imagery and Mapping
Agency. http://www.nima.mil/
- National Security Archive. Contains texts of declassified government documents.
- Oceans Atlas (U.N.) .
- Odden's Bookmarks: The Fascinating World of Maps and Mapping.
- One Planet, Many People: Atlas of Our Changing Environment. From the United Nations Evnironment Programme.
- Population
and Demography Sites from the Librarian's Index to the Internet
- Rankings of Countries by democratic development, press freedoms, human rights, rule of law, corruption, civil liberties, economic freedom, from World Audit.org.
- Regional Studies
Sites from the Virtual Library
- Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps for Illinois
- Social / Demographic / Economic Statistics Sources. Subdivided into local-, county-, and state-level electronic and printed COD resources. Although developed for marketing classes, it can certainly be utilized for other purposes as well.
- Soil Surveys of Counties from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
- Sprawl City: Consumption Growth and Population Growth information.
- State and Local Government web sites directory.
- Statistics selected by your Geography from Fed Stats/Map Stats.
- Topographic
Mapping from the USGS.
- Twentieth Century Historical Atlas.
- United Nations http://www.un.org
- United Nations Cartographic Section.
- United Nations Atlas of the Oceans.
- The United States Geological
Survey [USGS]. http://www.usgs.gov
- The United States
National Atlas. http://www.nationalatlas.gov
- United States National Geospatial - Intelligence Agency (NGA).
- United States Serial Set Maps. From the Library of Congress, it is composed of old maps that appeared in a series of Congressional reports and documents.
- U.S. State Coordinates.
- The Virtual Library of Eastern Europe.
- World Audit.org. Provides rankings of countries by many different subjects.
- The World Bank.
- The World Freedom Atlas.
- Yahoo's
Geography Links. http://www.yahoo.com/Science/Geography
GIS (Geographic Information Systems) Resources For information,
maps, and downloadable data.
Jamaica Project
Items from the C.O.D. Library about Jamaica
Caribbean Community (CARICOM)/Caribbean Free Trade Association (CARIFTA)
Economic Reforms and Poverty in Jamaica. Anders Danielson, 1998.
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Jamaica Page. (statistics and reports)
Globalization, Liberalization, and Sustainable Human Development: Progress and Challenges in Jamaica. United Nations, 2001.
IMF Structural Adjustment Programs: The Globalization of Poverty. (2005)
Inter - American Development Bank Jamaica Page
International Monetary Fund (IMF) Jamaica Page.
Jamaica Country Background Notes from the U.S. Department of State
Jamaica Country Information from Altapedia.online.
Jamaica Country Information from World Audit.com.
Jamaican Official Government Information Page.
Jamaica: Political and Economic and U.S. Relations. C.R.S., 2006.
Jamaican Statistics from NationMaster.com
Latin American Network Information Center (LANIC): Jamiaca.
The Organization of American States (OAS).
The Planning Institute of Jamaica. (reports and statistics)
Poverty Impacts of a WTO Agreement. World Bank, 2005.
Public Debt and Productivity [in Jamaica]. IMF, 2006.
The Road to Sustained Growth in Jamaica. World Bank, 2004.
Structural Adjustment - A Major Cause of Poverty. From GlobalIssues.org.
Structural Adjustment in Jamaica, 1981-85. World Bank, 1990.
Structural Reforms, Technological Gaps, and Economic Development: A Latin American Perspective. UN, 2002.
Trade Liberalization and Economic Reform in Developing Countries: Structural Change or De-Industrialization? UN, 2005.
Trade Liberalization: The Jamaican Experience. UNCTAD, 2004.
U.N. Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean. With statistics and reports.
UNESCO Jamaica Page.
"What did Structural Adjustment Adjust? The Association of Policies and Growth with Repeated IMF and World Bank Adjustment Loans." William Easterly. (2003)
What Makes Reforms Likely? Timing and Sequence of Structural Reforms in Latin America. Inter-American Development Bank, 1998.
World Bank Jamaica Page (statistics, links to online reports and official statements)
Evaluating Web Sites
Citing Sources
Interlibrary Loan
The Library can obtain copies of articles or books from other libraries
for you. Inquire at the Reference Desk. You may also consult journal
title lists from other libraries in the area.
Geography Faculty Internet Homepages
G. Scott Campbell
Joel Quam
Keith Yearman
Reference Desk:
630-942-3364
Dan Blewett, Reference Librarian
Phone: (630) 942-2279 , FAX (630) 858-8757
Office: SRC 3035
blewett@cdnet.cod.edu
