The High Library
Elizabethtown College
http://www2.etown.edu/library/chem214.htm

Chem 214
A Library Research Guide


Find books
Find background information
Tips for effective searching
Find articles and essays
Looking for a specific journal?
Citing sources

These are only some of the sources that may be useful to you.  Please contact me for help with any of your research, Sylvia Morra, x1452 or email AskUs.

Find books
The High Library catalog will help you find books, videos, CDs and other materials.

Find background information
Chemical and Physical Properties
Merck Index: Encyclopedia of Chemicals, Drugs and Biologicals. 13th ed. 2001. Ref 615.1 M555 2001.
    Use this to locate chemical formulas, alternative names, physical properties, uses and citations to articles on preparation, activity studies and pharmacology.

CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics. 2000-2001. Ref 541.9 H191. (Older editions in MUSSER.)

Lange's Handbook of Chemistry. 1979. 12th ed. Ref 540 L274h12.
    Even though this is an old edition, the physical constants have not changed. Search in the index for melting points.

Condensed Chemical Dictionary. 1971. 8th ed. Ref 540.3 C751 1971.

Hackh's Chemical Dictionary. 1969. 4th ed. Ref 540.3 H116c4.

Formularies
The Chemical Formulary. 1956. 5 volumes. 660 B439

The Formula Manual. 1980. 660 St795f

Biographical Information

New Dictionary of Scientific Biography. Ref 509.22 N532

Dictionary of Scientific Biography. 925 D554. (missing volume 5 Fis-G)

American Men and Women of Science. 25th ed.  Ref 925 Am512

The Who's Who of  Nobel Prize Winners 1901-1995. 3rd ed. Ref 001.44 W628 1996

Nobel Prize Winners. 1987. Ref 001.44 N744
Nobel Prize Winners 1987-1991 Supplement. 1992. Ref 001.44 N744 1987

AccessScience
    Provides more than 2000 biographical articles.

General Subject Specific Encyclopedias listed below have summary articles and bibliographies to get you started. Look at the bibliographies at the end of the summary articles to locate experts in your field of study.

Macmillan Encyclopedia of Chemistry. 1997. Ref 540.3221 M167  4 volumes.
    Start here with questions regarding chemical processes, etc.

AccessScience
    This is the enhanced electronic version of the McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology.  (Ref 503 M147 2002  20 volumes).and is an excellent source for a basic understanding of scientific and technical issues.

Macmillan Encyclopedia of Physics. 1996. Ref 530.03 M167  4 volumes.

More specialized encyclopedias in Musser Library.
Encyclopedia of Analytical Chemistry. 2000. MUSSER Ref 543.003 En56 10 volumes.

Dictionary of Organometallic Compounds. 2nd ed. 1995. MUSSER Ref 547.05 D554  5 volumes.

Annual Reviews and other series discuss the latest developments in a particular field. Click on the link below to search for full text articles on your topic or browse the volumes held in the library.
Advances in Physical Organic Chemistry  Library has: v.1, 1963-v.42, 2007.  547.1 Ad244
Advances in Physics. full text 1975 to present with 18 month delay for current issue.
Annual Review of Biochemistry. full text 1997 to 2005. Library has: v. 29, 1960-present. MUSSER
Annual Review of Biophysics and Biomolecular Structure full text 1997 to 6/1/2007.
Annual Review of Genetics. full text 1967 to 2005.
Annual Review of Nuclear and Particle Science. full text 1996 to 2005.
Annual Review of Pharmacology and Toxicology. full text 1997 to 2005.
Annual Review of Physical Chemistry. 1996 to 2005. Library has: v.7-13 1956-1962 paper, v.16-54 1965-2003 in paper format.
Chemical Reviews. full text 1996 to present.

Tips for effective searching
Be persistent in your searching.

Internal punctuation matters. Different databases handle internal punctuation differently. See which method retrieves the most relevant results.  Search both ways (for ex: x-ray crystallography vs. x ray crystallography).

Try both singular and plural forms of words (use a "+" sign in GenSciAbs to search both singular and plurals e.g. brownian movement+).

If searching a compound word, try it as one word and as two words (e.g. rain forest or rainforest) to see which retrieves the most useful results.

Try synonyms.

Narrow a search by using subject headings. Locate subject headings by looking at the descriptors associated with articles and books.

Find articles and essays
Get beyond Google by using some of the databases below, which contain both popular and scholarly articles. Although they deliver their content through the web, these databases are paid for through library subscriptions. Information found here would not generally be found for free on the web; articles have been written by subject experts or professional journalists and reviewed by peers and editors.

Academic Search Premier (varies)
     Search in this multi-disciplinary database that indexes a large number of chemistry journals. Search the journal name "Annual Review of Physical Chemistry" to find the full text of that journal. Drop in additional topical keywords to further narrow your results. Annual reviews provide excellent summaries on emerging topics.

GenSciAbs (General Science Abstracts)(1984+)
    Choose this database because it focuses only on the sciences. It includes very readable articles as well as more scholarly journals. Indexes 160 journals back to 1984. GenSciAbs allows one to search on related authors and related subjects after a set of papers have been identified.

ACS (American Chemical Society) (varies)
    Contains full-text of articles appearing in publications of the American Chemical Society. Publications included in the ACS Legacy Archives are listed here. Full text that doesn't display in ACS can be ordered on Interlibrary Loan.
    Analytical Chemistry issues can be viewed directly. The library owns this title in paper, 1929-1998--level one.

SciFinder Scholar (1906+)
    Accesses Chemical Abstracts Service, the premier index in chemistry with a one user license.  Contact Sylvia Morra for the first time registration URL.

Scirus
    Search the publisher Elsevier's database of Science Direct articles, Medline as well as more scholarly web sites. Includes full text from Crystallography Journals Online, BioMed Central, Cogprints, NASA technical reports, etc.  Search for full text articles from that database using the following link: Locate E-town Journals or from the library's web page. Order items on ILLiad (Interlibrary Loan), if the library doesn't own that specific magazine.

Ingenta
    Another database of publisher's journal articles that focus on the sciences. Search for full text articles from that database using the following link: Locate E-town Journals or from the library's web page. Order items on ILLiad (Interlibrary Loan), if the library doesn't own that specific magazine .

http://www.science.gov--Use this search interface to simultaneously search 29 different government databases.

Looking for a specific journal?
Search for full text articles in journals using the following link: Locate E-town Journals.
Type the name of the journal next to 'Find:' and then press 'Search'. Full text can be electronic or within the library in paper, microfiche or microfilm.
Check the publication dates of the article against the listing of years for the database or the years listed 'Within the High Library'. If the database includes those years, click on the link, add in an author's name or title of the article. The full text link should appear at the end of the citation.
    Current year paper issues of journals in the High Library are on the entrance level.
    Older print journals are on Level One, alphabetically by journal title.
    If the journal is in microfiche or microfilm, a copies can be made in the library. Ask the reference librarian or circulation student assistants for help.  Order copies online by using ILLiad   Click on Request an Article and fill out the form. You will receive an email when the article is available on ILLiad for downloading.

What if it is not here?
Order items from another library, if The High Library doesn't own that specific journal or have it for the years that you need it. Requesting the article can be done through the databases or through the following software link: ILLiad (Interlibrary Loan). Allow a minimum of 4-5 working days for the article to arrive.

Citing sources
ACS Style Guide: A manual for authors and editors. 808.06654 Ac187 1997.  

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