InfoGuides: CHEM 3201 : Chemical Literature: Research Resources

Key reference tools

SciFinder
Searches chemistry related journal and patent literature from 1907 to the present. Also searches chemical structures, single- and multi-step reactions, chemical suppliers and regulatory restrictions. MEDLINE is included. You MUST create an individual password at CAS Registration before you can search, and you MUST use your WT email address for registration.

Format: Citations; some full-text via ChemPort, Coverage: 1907 - present, Truncation and Wildcard: N/A and N/A, Search Tips: May search by topic, author, journal, company. Limits include patents, biographies, clinical trials. Special search features for chemical structures and reaction diagrams, such as a drawing box. You may force phrase searching by using quotation marks. Session history includes searched terms and articles accessed.
CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics Online
One of the most important data reference books used by scientists worldwide for over a hundred years, through a platform with many convenient browsing and searching options.

Document Mode: Search and browse the Handbook documents and tables. View interactive tables and generate graphs, export table data, etc.

Chemistry Mode: All chemical compounds and their associated physical properties from the 700+ document tables in the Handbook collated into a single searchable database. Search for a compound by name, formula, property or structure, view all available physical properties, its structure etc. in a chemical entry and export data.
PubChem
The National Library of Medicine here offers the world's largest collection of freely accessible chemical information, allowing you to search chemicals by name, molecular formula, structure, and other identifiers and to find chemical and physical properties, biological activities, safety and toxicity information, patents, literature citations and more.

key sources of journal literature

American Chemical Society Journals
Access to recent decades of the journals of the American Chemical Society, such as Analytical Chemistry, Chemical Reviews, and The Journal of Organic Chemistry.

Search by keyword, title, author, or citation and within all the journals or specific titles.

Format: Full-text, Coverage: Current, archival varies by title, some go back to, Truncation and Wildcard: Automatic stemming and None, Search Tips: Supports the Boolean functions AND, OR and NOT., and Special Features: Search automatically stems, that is look for variants of the word. To avoid stemming on an Author Search only, capitalize the first letter. For example, Pauling will find only Pauling. However, pauling will find paul, pauling, pauline, etc.

Web of Science
Simultaneously search the most important journals in the social sciences, physical sciences, mathematics, the humanities, and visual and performing arts. Includes 'high impact' scholarly sources. Search by author, topic, affiliation, etc., or follow links to cited sources. Create an individualized sign-in to save results, set up search alerts, and gain access to citation management with the My EndNote Web service. Includes Arts & Humanities Citation Index (AHCI), Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Science Citation Index (SCI).

Format: Citations; some full-text via link resolver, Coverage: 1970-present, Truncation and Wildcard: * and * for (any), ? for (1), $ for (0 or 1), Search Tips: Default search is for terms in the order they are entered, use quotation marks for a phrase. Search options include author, title, keyword, and subject. Author first name is initials only. Supports logical connectors AND, OR, NOT, and SAME. Can limit to one or two of the included indexes.
ScienceDirect
Broad science coverage, emphasizing life sciences, health sciences, engineering, earth sciences, agriculture, and pharmacology. Full text from over 3800 journals and chapters from over 5300 books. Also includes business, management and accounting; economics, econometrics and finance, and social science.

Format: Full-text, Coverage: Varies by title, most 1990-present, Truncation and Wildcard: ! and *, Search Tips: Default search assumes entered term is a phrase. Can search for terms in abstract/title/keywords, full-text , author, journal title, etc. Use singular for terms that form regular plurals. For irregular plurals, combine both terms with OR. Greek letters are spelled out in English. Super and subscripts appear inline. Browsable help lists. Journal list.
Google Scholar
Google scholar is a specialized Google service that searches the web for journal articles, books, and other material that MAY be scholarly. Use the special link above for authenticated access to full text articles when off campus.

Format: , Coverage: Varies, mostly mid 1990s - present, Truncation and Wildcard: None and None, Search Tips: To search specifically for an author, use the format author:"j smith" or author:smith. The "Advanced Search Page" allows greater specificity. Words can be searched as exact phrase, without a specific word, in specific publications, with specified authors, and within a specified time frame. Google Scholar will also search within subject areas. Using a + in front of a common word (such as the, and, or) makes sure the term is included in the results. Using a - in front of a term excludes items containing the word.
PubMed
More than 24 million citations for biomedical literature from MEDLINE, life science journals, and online books. Citations may include links to full-text content from PubMed Central and publisher web sites.
SpringerLink
Primarily scientific journals, with particular emphasis on mathematics, physics and engineering. Publisher is European, so some journals are not in English. Contains about 1,200 peer-reviewed journals.

Format: Full-text, Coverage: Varies, mid 1990s - present., Truncation and Wildcard: No and No, Search Tips: Default choice in advanced search is citation, so switch to articles by text tab to keyword search. Dropdown menu allows searching by All Words, AExact Phrase or Boolean Search. Search is by Author, Title, Abstract (including title), or Full-text (including title and abstract). Select Recency or Relevancy to sort results. To search by publication dates, or specific publication names, click the button labeled Show Advanced Options. Also browseable by publication, by publisher, or by online library (broad subjects such as chemical sciences, computer science, economics, etc.)

Additional databases for scientific journal articles

SciTech Premium
Provides full-text titles from around the world including scholarly journals, trade and industry journals, magazines, technical reports, conference proceedings, government publications and more. Covers Agriculture, Environmental Science, Biology, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Advanced Technology, Aerospace, Materials Science, and Engineering.
Wiley Online Library
For the sciences, business, and education. Includes journals in the areas of business, chemistry, computer science, earth science, education, engineering, law, life and medical sciences, mathematics and statistics, physics, and psychology.

Format: Full-text, Coverage: Varies--mostly mid-1990s to present., Truncation and Wildcard: * and None, Search Tips: For list of all journals, go to 'Publications ' and select initial letter of title. 'Browse by Subject' provides a list of publications by area of research, but does not have a search function. Question mark icon on every page is help feature. The open lock icon is on items available in full-text.
Institute of Physics Journals
Full-text online access to 50 of the journals published by the Institute of Physics. Complete coverage of each title from first to most current issue. Contains all of the Journal of Physics series.

Format: Full-text, Coverage: Varies by journal, Truncation and Wildcard: * and *, Search Tips: Use double quotes to search for exact phrase. Otherwise a Boolean AND is assumed. Can search abstract, title, author, affiliation, or keyword; or phrase within entire article. Can specify individual journal, subject category (e.g. applied physics or computer science) or entire collection. Search results can also be clustered by common terms occurring within the retrieved
articles.
IEEE Xplore Digital Library
Includes all the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) journals, plus conference proceedings and IEEE standards. Coverage areas are
- Aerospace
- Bioengineering
- Communication, Networking & Broadcasting
- Components, Circuits, Devices & SystemsComputing & Processing (Hardware/Software)
- Engineered Materials, Dielectrics & Plasmas
- Engineering Profession
- Fields, Waves & Electromagnetics
- General Topics for Engineers (Math, Science & Engineering)
- Geoscience
- Nuclear Engineering
- Photonics & Electro-Optics
- Power, Energy, & Industry Applications
- Robotics & Control Systems
- Signal Processing & Analysis
- Transportation
Format: Full-text, Coverage: varies by title, Vol. 1 to present, Truncation and Wildcard: * and *, Search Tips: Capitalize OR or AND when using Boolean search and complex command line searches with field names., and Special Features: Subscription includes IET journals. Create an individual account to save searches, results, RSS feeds, etc. More than 5000 conference proceedings included.

Print tertiary sources

CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics
Call Number: QD65 .H3 Ref

Publication Date: 1980-present
The Merck Index
Call Number: RS51 .M4 Ref

Publication Date: 2013

Discover Search

Scholarly Articles

What is this searching?

Simultaneously searches dozens of our databases, including Web of Science and ebook collection, plus the library catalog. Note:

Watch dates on sources carefully - use limiters if needed.
Choices to refine search results are to the right of the results list
May select Scholarly (Peer reviewed) journals. This is at the publication level - evaluate the item you intend to use.
Full text often available by clicking link under "View It" on item record.
If not available in print or electronically, use Interlibrary Loan.

CHEM 3201 : Chemical Literature

Key reference tools

key sources of journal literature

Additional databases for scientific journal articles

Print tertiary sources

Discover Search

Discover Search Explained