You may also find our Chemistry Subject Guide helpful.

MnPALS
Our library catalog. This link takes you into the "Basic Searches" screen where you can search by author, title, etc. The "Advanced Searches" option lets you limit by date, additional keywords, collection area, and so on. In your list of results, the Location column lists the call number--where the book is shelved. Note: Once you've located a book that looks interesting, browse the shelves around it. The Library of Congress classification system used in this library puts books on the same subject together.

Reference works are helpful at two points in your research: when starting out (by offering overview articles of, say, a writer and her work) or when nailing down unfamiliar terms, concepts, and topics that turn up during your research. Many reference book articles are written by experts and offer not only information but excellent bibliographies for further research.

Chemistry: Foundations and Applications. 4 vols. New York: Macmillan Reference, 2004. (Ref QD 4 .C48 2004) Provides over 500 articles on basic information on elements, topics in biochemistry, applications of chemistry, biographies of important chemists, and chemistry-related topics in other areas such as medicine, environmental chemistry, and energy.

Concise Encyclopedia Chemistry. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1994 (Ref QD 4 .A2313 1994) Provides brief definitions and short background articles on topics in the field, including general, inorganic, organic, physical and technical chemistry. There is another concise encyclopedia covering biochemistry and molecular biology available at Ref QD415.A25 B713 1997.

A Dictionary of Chemistry. 4th ed. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2000. Online. Offers brief definitions of terms in the field, including physical chemistry, chemical engineering, environmental issues, and biochemistry.

Macmillan Encyclopedia of Chemistry. 4 vols. New York: Macmillan, 1997. Covers a broad range of topics in the field in around 700 substantial articles written for a wide audience. Includes various subdisciplines and branches of chemistry as well as key ideas and key figures.

McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology. 20 vols. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2002. (Ref Q 121 .M3 2002) Covers topics in the sciences in detail, giving technical discussions fully illustrated with charts, diagrams, and photographs.

World of Chemistry. Detroit: Gale, 2000. (QD33 .W873 2000) A treasury of articles on theories, discoveries, concepts, and key scientists in the field.

Databases for articles and other materials offer references to publications that may or may not be in this library; some databases offer full text of articles and others simply citations. There are in-depth databases that cover publications in a particular field and others that are interdisciplinary. Databases can be accessed from a drop-down list on the library's main page; descriptions can be found here.

Academic Search Premier
Searches both general magazines and scholarly journals on a wide variety of topics. Some are full text; others are merely citations to things that have been published. One way to limit a search is to check the "scholarly (peer reviewed) journals box to exclude popular magazines from your search.

Lexis/Nexis
A group of databases strong in news coverage, business, and legal information.

Web of Science
A huge database of articles in the natural and social sciences. One interesting feature of this database is that you can search for who has cited a particular author and can also search for "related records" - articles that cite many of the same sources. Almost everything in this database is recent (1997-present) scholarly work, often very specialized.

Use the Web with care

Libraries often pay for services through the web; these aren't indexed in search engines Some "free" sites for magazines and newspapers charge for using their archives; library databases offer them at no charge. Some questions are easier to answer through the web than others. If it has to do with current events, the law, opinions, computers, popular culture, commercial products, organizations, or government affairs, the web offers a lot; if you're looking for research or scholarship, you aren't as likely to find what you want (though in some fields that is changing). Not everyone wants to give their research away for free.

Planning a search

• Think about what you need and which key words might describe it
• Think about what organizations or government entities might provide information on your topic
• Use what you find to refine your search (such as the name of an organization, a government agency, a site that everyone is linking to)
• Use selective directories if you have a broad topic (Search engines work best for narrow topics or specific facts.)
• Use an appropriate database if you aren't finding quality material

• edu = higher education (usually in the US)
• gov = federal government
• k12 = primary or secondary school
• com = company (often personal sites, too)
• org = organization
• net = network
• country abbreviations: ca (Canada); au (Australia); uk (United Kingdom) jp (Japan); se (Sweden) . . .

• shorten a URL to get to a root page by deleting everything after the first /
• follow links to find out about the page's author or sponsoring agency

• Who is the author? Why should you trust him/her?
• Where does the site come from? An organization? An individual? Which country?
• When was it put together? Is it frequently updated?
• What does it say? Does it make sense? Does it back up its claims?
• Why is it there? What is the author's purpose in presenting this information and does that purpose suggest a particular bias?

• Example One
• Example Two
• Example Three

• Example Four

In addition to general search engines, use these selective Web directories to find useful sites:

Infomine - a database of scholarly Web sites maintained at the University of California
Librarians' Index to the Internet - a more general guide to valuable Web sources, also based in California
Scout Archives - maintained at the University of Wisconsin
World Wide Web Virtual Library - the original Web directory

Good sites for science information

ChemDex - a chemistry directory maintained at the University of Sheffield.

ChemWeb - includes access to a wide variety of information, including the Beilstein Abstracts and the Chemistry Preprint Server. Free registration is required.
Google Scholar attempts to limit a search to scholarly sources with mixed success. An interesting feature is the "cited by" link. Often the search points to articles that are not full-text.
Links for Chemists - a directory from the World Wide Web Virtual Library.
Molecule of the Month - a British site that presents information about a different molecule every month. Previous month's molecules are included back to 1996.Scirus a limited search engine focused on quality science sources. Some links are to subscriber-only databases.
WebElements - a periodic table online.

We can order books and articles from other libraries if you need something we don't have. For more information, visit the interlibrary loan page.

Citing Your Sources -- Includes basic models for MLA, APA, and Chicago citations as well as a link to a more detailed online guide and sample papers. If you're confused about whether you should cite a source or not, take a look at this explanation of plagiarism from the Purdue Online Writing Lab.