Searching the Chemistry Literature Using Library Databases

Linda Neyer, Science Librarian

Goals & objectives1. Find a popular science article of at least 2

pages (about 1,000 words) on synthetic chemistry

a. Magazines

b. Newspapers

2. Identify the original scholarly journal article on which the popular article is based

3. Locate the original scholarly journal article

Publications/Sources

Books Periodicals Gray Lit(monographs) (serials) (patents, gov

docs, etc.)

General Interest Special Interest (e.g. Newspapers, (Subject or Discipline Magazines) Specific)

Trade Publ. Scholarly Publ.

-news -peer-reviewed, refereed-secondary -primary research (although also contains

secondary) -also called ‘academic’ journals

Note: format can be either print or electronic

How do you identify articles in newspapers, magazines

and journals?

Search Library Databases -- use either ‘general’ or subject-

specific ones to search for a topic

Use the Internet -- but limit to trusted search engines or sites

Browse Periodicals --

may be either online or in print format

Special features of Library Databases vs. Search Engines

Library DBs Web Search Engines

• Provide way to ‘narrow’ or ‘broaden’ search

• Index documents – articles, patents, etc.

• Let you manage your results:

--format for bib

• Use ‘controlled’ vocabulary

• Always get results

• User-Friendly

-- email or export results

• Spell-check

• Use ‘natural’ language• Link to

library’s resources

• Search ‘scholarly’ sources

GS

--sort by date, etc.

• Index web pages

‘General’ databases

• Some specific ones:– Academic Search Complete– ProQuest Classic– Lexis-Nexis Academic

• Index newspapers, popular magazines, and/or scholarly journals

• Good source of secondary sources

• Some specific ones:– Web of Science– PubMed/MEDLINE– Chem Abstracts (SciFinder)

• Index specialized, scholarly literature

• Best source of primary (research) literature

Chemical databases

TruncationTo find words that have the

same root or ‘trunk’, use truncation.

For example, truncate the root

chemi* to retrieve:chemist chemicalchemicalschemistry, etc.

Boolean logicA search for ‘rock AND roll’ will locate all records containing both the word "rock" and the word "roll” (same as ‘all’)

A search for ‘rock OR roll’ will locate all records containing either the word "rock" or the word "roll" -- not necessarily both (same as ‘any’)

A search for rock NOT roll will locate records containing the word "rock" but

NOT the word "roll"

Questions?

Link