Chemistry -- Information Strategy/Sources

Information Strategy -- a basic guide for tracking down relevant, high-quality information needed for papers, lab reports, discussions, and other purposes

1. Define ... a topic by gathering background/overview information; help formulate your question

Sources:

AccessScience (the online version of the McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science & Technology and Yearbooks and the McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms)

Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology (in paper)

Reference Universe

Additional relevant encyclopedias, dictionaries, and other publications that may provide this type of information and are available locally can be located by searching the Library Catalog and then limiting by Location: Reference or Science Library Reference.

2. Identify ... specific sources of information about the defined topic--to answer your question

Databases (1 general/non-technical -- indepth/more scholarly 5):

1. LexisNexis (useful for coverage of newspapers and some popular magazines 1980's-present; use the Power Search)

To supplement the above database, try--

Access World News

2. Academic Search Premier

For materials published prior to the beginning of the above database, try --

Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature (in paper; covers 1890-present)

3. ACS Journals Search (the full text of articles from approximately 33 journals published by the American Chemical Society is available from the very first issues of the journals to the present)

To supplement the above database, try --

Grinnell College Libraries Catalog (for other than articles)

4. Chemical Abstracts

Two ways to access --

SciFinder Scholar (look for the SciFinder Scholar icon on the desktop of computers running Windows in the Kistle Science Library, the Chemistry Discussion Room, and other locations; SciFinder Scholar searches Chemical Abstracts, CASREACT, REGISTRY, and MEDLINE; unlike STN, SciFinder Scholar is available 24 hours per day)

STN

CrossFire Beilstein

Cambridge Structural Database (CSD; description; contact Andy Mobley for information on how to access and use this database)

To supplement the above databases, try --

Environmental Sciences & Pollution Management

TOXLINE (description)

WorldCat (description)

5. Science Citation Index (description; contact Science Librarian for use of this database)

Reference Sources:

Chemistry--Core Reference Materials

Where to find Registry Numbers and physical property data for chemical substances?

Where to find synthesis/preparation information for chemical substances?

Where to find spectra data for chemical substances?

How to locate commercial sources for purchasing chemicals? Try the database CHEMCATS available through SciFinder Scholar.

Sources of Statistics

Other Sources:

BRENDA (The Comprehensive Enzyme Information System)

Environmental Fate Data Base (description)

see especially --

CHEMFATE

DATALOG

Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS):

MSDS Index (Vermont Safety Information Resources, Inc.)

NIST Chemistry WebBook (National Institute of Standards and Technology; thermochemical, ion energetics, spectra, thermophysical, and other data)

NIST Online Scientific Databases

Sequence Retrieval System (for searching across multiple databases in Biochemistry including SWISS PROT and BLAST; allows searching of proteins by molecular weight and other characteristics)

BLAST (Basic Local Alignment Search Tool--a set of similarity search programs designed to explore all of the available sequence databases regardless of whether the query is protein or DNA--from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/BLAST/blast_overview.html)

SWISS PROT (full-text search option; for finding the molecular weight of and much other data about proteins)

Sigma-Aldrich (spectra and other basic information is available; Sigma-Aldrich Company)

TOXNET (databases on toxicology, hazardous chemicals, and related areas; National Library of Medicine)

Water:

Ground Water & Drinking Water (United States Environmental Protection Agency)

Drinking Water Standards

List of Drinking Water Contaminants & MCLs

Ground Water & Drinking Water Topics

Standard methods for the examination of water and wastewater (in paper)

USGS Water Resources Data of the United States (United States Geological Survey; description)

3. Locate ... the publications identified above at Grinnell or elsewhere--get your information

Grinnell College Libraries Catalog

Journal Finder (journal, magazine, and newspaper articles; Search for Full Text)

Interlibrary Loan

Other Library Catalogs:

Iowa State University Library Catalog

University of Iowa Libraries Catalog

4. Evaluate ... the validity, objectivity, and usefulness of the information