GIS and Spatial Sciences
at USC Libraries
Andy Rutkowski
arutkows@usc.edu
Contact me for a research consultation:
arutkows@usc.edu
213.740.6390
Hazard and Disaster Log
5 significant natural hazard and/or disaster events that happened over the course of the semester that made media headlines.
After Action Report on one specific disaster.
The report will draw upon course lectures, discussions, readings, and outside sources to organize and deliver a summary of the disaster event and its associated impacts on the affected human population.
The report is limited to 10 pages in length (with 12-point font, 1 inch margins, single-spacing for text) and will mostly comprise maps, tables, and other graphics as well as a list of references.
Primary
Secondary
Teriatry
RESEARCH GUIDE:
Primary
direct, first-hand, closeness to an event or thing.
Secondary
interpretation or analysis of a primary or secondary source.
good way of getting back to a primary source.
Tertiary
overview, summary, encyclopedia, wikipedia, textbooks, etc.
Primary: Census data extracted from cenus website
Secondary: Article or book that discusses and uses that census data
Tertiary: Wikipedia entry for the US Census
Basics of USC Libraries website
filters
filters
filters
Use advanced search to narrow / broaden your results
Click on full text
and get the article from a database.
Depending on which one you choose your article may or may not contain diagrams and images.
sharing options!
Sign in and save!
Google Scholar
change settings in order to link to USC Libraries
- click on library links
- search for university of southern california
- check off University of Southern California - Find it @ USC
- save
if you selected USC you will see the Find it @ USC link for available articles
Data
Thoughts on Finding Data
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Topic of interest?
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Ideal dataset(s)?
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Source of dataset(s)?
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Spatial Scale?
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Temporal Scale?
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Primary or Secondary data?
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Raster or Vector data model?
Access to USC subscription databases and other data sources
Other library sources
Statista: great source for data on a range of different topics
Data Planet: large range of data sources - especially international and other government and agency data
Statistical Insight: reports and stats
Courses - access some specific disaster focused databases
your data is only as good as the metadata
- where did you get it
- how it was collected
- dates
- coverage
- etc
Practice good metadata
- describe the data that you download in a text document
- write out any relevant information about it
- if you change your data say what you did
- name your data files something meaningful
- with each change update filenames and offer description
Citation
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