Using this site

This site can be used at a number of levels. It can be used to search for bibliographic items according to the interests and needs of the user. It can be used to link research literature with key themes in land governance. It can also be used to explore debates and reform issues around key themes in land governance.

Searching for bibliographic items

You can search items both by free terms and by category filters.

To search by free term, click on Search and Download tab, click on Search, and then type your term into the box next to the Search button, then click on Search. A list of articles that contain your search term in the title, author or abstract will be generated.

To search by category, click on Show only items where, and then filter by category. The most useful search categories are: Annotation, Country and Theme. You can use the dropdown list to choose annotated/un-annotated articles, the country by which you wish to filter, and the theme against which you wish to filter. Then click the Filter button to generate your list of items.

After you search by free term, you can further filter by category, or vice versa.

From the list that is generated through any search you can:

• Click on individual items to see details and access the document through the URL field if it is available for download
• Sort by date (default), author, title, type or year
• Copy and paste entries on the page into a WORD document, where the hyperlinks will be maintained to take you directly to the bibliographic entries in a single click
• For advanced users, download the generated output using BibTex, XML or RIS, which will allow you to import the output into your bibliography management program (such as EndNote or Mendeley)

When you click on a bibliographic reference, you will see key information for that item including abstract and, if relevant, annotations by theme. Where an author abstract does not come with the item, the source of the summary is indicated. Under “Availability”, you will also see whether the item is available for web download or as a .PDF file or webpage from the site (just click on the URL to open), via library journal access, or by contacting the author or relevant organization.

Linking research literature with key land governance themes

A subset of the bibliographic items are annotated by theme. This allows you to interpret the research item in terms of what it tells you about that theme, hence drawing a connection between the literature and key themes in land governance. To find the annotated items, first filter by Annotation. Then further refine your search by theme, country or keyword.

Exploring reform issues and debates around key themes

The key themes page links to summary syntheses of reform issues and debates around key themes. From the Key Themes tab, click on any one of the twelve themes in order to see a brief synthesis for an overview of the theme and to identify reform issues and debates around that theme. Some of the themes have extended synopses in attached .pdf files with more detail that links back to relevant research literature, which may be explored further on an item-by-item basis.

Alternatively, you can generate bibliographic lists of items relevant to the theme by clicking on bibliography view and download. You can then access items in the same way as for any other search.