Librarian
Olivia Sparks
Noble Science Library
Email
Phone:480/965-4388
BCH 464: Biophysical Chemistry
Finding Structure and Spectral Information for Biomolecules
Knowing Where Information is Published Makes it Easier to Find
Search Strategy for Finding Property Data
Searching Tips for Spectrographic Techniques
How to Find Your Reference in the ASU Libraries
Need More Help?
Knowing Where Information is Published Makes It Easier To Find
Journal ArticlesUsually the first appearance of information on a topic appears in a journal article. Infrequently, a paper is presented at a conference first, then published as a journal article. Some journals and/or universities provide press releases about the research that is upcoming or has just appeared in a journal article - the information is then picked up by newspapers and news sites on the web for distribution to the general public. The journals Science, Nature, and New England Journal of Medicine are cited frequently in news articles.
If the original article generates interest, more journal articles on the subject will appear. Some will extend the research further; others may be the results of testing the theory presented in the original article.
Books and Data Compilations
If the topic continues to be of interest and the amount of literature expands, books and other forms of compilations may appear. Books could be a collection of reviews or more original research presented by experts in the field. If appropriate for the topic, compilations of data/numerical values may also appear at this point. In book form, these are usually called handbooks although the term "atlas" may also be used for compilations of spectra. Internet sites may also appear at this point with data compilations.
Encyclopedias and Other Types of Overviews
As a topic continues to mature, it will eventually become an accepted component of the overall discipline and articles on the topic will appear in encyclopedic works. Encyclopedia articles usually present an overview and are a good to place to find an introduction to the topic. Also at this stage, tutorials and other types of introductory material may show up on the web; these types of materials will vary in quality.
Publication vs Literature Search
In general, when researching a topic, go in the opposite direction of publication. Start first with an encyclopedia or an overview on the web to find out about a topic, next consider books and data compilations, and finally, the primary literature, journal articles.
- To find encyclopedias or other sources of introductory information, use the Chemistry Resources page, ASU Online Catalog, and the resources listed below.
- To find books, use the ASU Online Catalog and the instructions for Data Compilations below.
- To find journal articles use: Chemical Abstracts/SciFinder Scholar
Search Strategy for Finding Property Data
Step 1: Know What You're Looking For!
Step 2: Search the Web
Step 3: Search Data Compilations
Step 4: Search the Literature Using Chemical Abstracts
Step 5: Search Full Text via Publisher Search Engines
Step 1: Know What You're Looking For!
Before begining your search, you'll need to determine the following information:
For the Property:
Where to look for this information:
|
For the Substance:
Where to look for this information:
|
Why bother with all this?
Property information is very scattered throughout the literature and very seldom is this information "packaged" the way you would expect. The same property can be expressed with different words, or by a symbol. Sometimes experimental data for the specific property is not available but the property could be calculated using a formula for which experimental data is available. The more you know about the property and the substance, the greater your searching options and the more search options you employ, the greater the chance of finding the needed information.
Step 2: Search the Web
Coverage:
A web search will retrieve some (but probably not all) journal articles on the topic. The more recently an article was published, the more likely it is accessible online. Books are now being retrieved via many of the google search engines. Web searches may also pull up tutorials and other types of "overviews" for a topic - be careful as many of these "non-scholarly" materials are not peer-reviewed for accuracy. Speciality search engines, such as Google Books, Google Scholar and Scirus restrict searches to specific types of materials.
Use:
- Google
http://www.google.com
- Google Scholar
http://scholar.google.com
Articles published by the American Chemical Society and Elsevier are not included in Google Scholar.
- Scirus
http://www.scirus.com
- Your favorite search engines
Search Strategy and Tips for Web Searching:
- No one web search engine finds everything - use at least two that come from different vendors.
- Use/read "help" and "about" features on the search engines to determine what is (or is not) covered. What you don't find may turn out to be more important than what you do find!
- In the search box, enter both the property and the compound name. If the property and/or the compound have synonyms, do a search for each synonym.
- Do not rely only on keywords that describe a group of compounds, such as "amino acids", instead search separately for each amino acid in which you are interested.
- Although sometimes web search engines can identify that a database such as ChemFinder exists, the search engines usually cannot search within the database; the databases must be searched separately by going directly to the database's own search engine. See Step 3 below for more details on how to find these databases.
- If searching from off-campus, you will NOT be able to go directly to the journal articles. Only Google Scholar has an "off campus accessibility option"
- Set "Scholar Preferences" for "Arizona State University"
- Click on "Save Preferences"
- Use the "Get It @ ASU options" link to see articles that require a library subscription to access
(you'll be asked to supply your ASUrite ID and password)
Step 3: Search Data Compilations
Data compilations can be either in print or online; print compilations are usually called "handbooks". Coverage will vary but no data compilation contains everything. There are many data compilations available but there may not be one for your property and/or substance. To identify what data compilations are available use:
- Property Data Index
http://www.asu.edu/lib/noble/chem/property.htm- Search standard sources first, then
- Search special sources using the alphabetical index in the right-hand (yellow) column
- Look in the same call number areas as the special sources in both the reference area and the 3rd floor.
Search Strategies and Tips for using Data Compilations:
- Always search under each of the synonyms for the property and the substance. Some data compilations allow you to search by both the property and the substance, some limit searching to just the property or just the substance.
- Look for the property's symbol in the headers of tables, especially for properties with long names that may not fit in the column's header.
- If property data is "compressed" into a paragraph format, look for data by the abbreviation, symbol and.or appropriate units. These compressed format are used to save space and consequently seldom spell out the full name of the property.
Step 4: Search the Literature using Chemical Abstracts
Coverage:
Indexes the chemical literature from 1907 to the present, although in some areas coverage may include the late 1800's. Iincludes not only journal articles but also books, conference proceedings, dissertations, patents and technical reports. This is a bibliographic database - the search engine is looking at the words in the titles, abstracts and subject headings for each entry but does not search the full text of material.
Use:
- Chemical Abstracts/SciFinder Scholar
http://www.asu.edu/lib/resources/db/scifinder.htm
(library access only)
Search Strategies and Tips for Chemical Abstracts:
- Use the "Locate - substance" search and/or the "Explore - Research topic" search.
- If the Scifinder Scholar software does not automatically search the synonyms of the property, put synonyms into the search by using parentheses.
Ex. extinction coefficient (molar absorptivity)
- Beware of using a generic name or keywords to describe a group of compounds, as Chemical Abstracts "indexes to the specific".
- Searching for "amino acids" will not retrieve all the articles for tryptophan - the search will only retrieve those articles about tryptophan in which the phrase "amino acids" appears in either the title, abstract or subject headings. If looking for information on several amino acids, the best retrieval will be obtained by doing a separate search for each amino acid. Another option is to use the structure search for a substructure common to the compound group.
- Look out for compounds in which the structure is "unspecified". For example, doing a "locate substance" search for chlorophyll only retrieves less than 50 references. The other 25,000+ records are found under the specific type of chlorophyll:
- chlorophyll a [479-61-8] (20,000+ references)
- chlorophyll b [519-62-0] (7,700+ references)
- chlorophyll c1 [18901-56-9] (120 references)
- chlorophyll c2 [27736-03-4] (150 references)
- unspecified chlorophyll c [11003-45-5] (600+ references)
- unspecified chlorophyll [1406-65-1] (24 references)
It is better to do a "locate substance" search for the specific type of chlorophyll or do a "research topic" search to retrieve all the different types of chlorophyll.
Step 5: Search the Full Text of Articles via Publisher Search Engines
As the following publishers are known not to participate in free projects such Google Scholar, it may be wise to use their own full text search engines. Also, if you know of a specific journal(s) that may cover the information you're seeking, check the publisher's site to see if a full text engine is available.
- American Chemical Society
http://pubs.acs.org.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/wls/journals/query/subscriberSearch.html
ASU has access to all ACS titles (except for Chemical and Engineering News) from volume 1 to the present.
- Elsevier Science Direct
http://www.asu.edu/lib/resources/db/elsevier.htm
ASU has access to most Elsevier titles from volume 1 to the present. To search the full text of articles: - Click on the green SEARCH button near the top left of the screen
- Enter search terms and change the "within" box to "Full Text"
- Set dates
Searching Tips for Spectrographic Techniques
Tip 1: Know What You're Looking For!
Tip 2 : Search the Literature Using Chemical Abstracts
Tip 3: Search the Full Text of Articles via Web Search Engines
Tip 4: Search the Full Text of Articles via Publisher Search Engines
Tip 1: Know What You're Looking For!
Before beginning your search, make sure you understand the technique that is being searched and determine if the technique has:
- Synonyms
- Abbreviation or Acronym
- If an acronym, what is the full name of the technique?
Use the following resources:
- Google or use your favorite search engine(s)
http://www.google.com
- Encyclopedia of Spectroscopy and Spectrometry
QD95 .E55x 2000 Science Reference
- Encyclopedia of Analytical Instrumentation
http://www.chemistry.vt.edu/chem-ed/ac-meths.html
Tip 2: Search the Literature Using Chemical Abstracts
Use:
- Chemical Abstracts/SciFinder Scholar
http://www.asu.edu/lib/resources/db/scifinder.htm
(library access only)
Search Strategies and Tips:
- The analytical method used in an experiment is frequently only mentioned in the abstract or in the full text of the article (in the "methods and instrumentation" section). The method is seldom in the title of the article. Consequently, when examing results from a search, do not judge the "worth" of an article strictly by the words in the title; view at least the abstract and/or the "methods and instrumentation" section of the full article.
- When a new technique first becomes available, the full name of the technique is usually used in the literature: ex. "matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization" or "nuclear magnetic resonance". As the technique becomes more well known, authors will generally use the full name followed by the acronym: ex. "matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization (MALDI)" or "nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)". Once the technique has become common knowledge, authors will generally just use the acronyms: ex. "MALDI" or "NMR".
Therefore, if searching for just a few good recent articles, searching by the acronym will probably be sufficient, however if you need to find everything on the topic or if you need historical articles as well as current, you must search both the full name of the technique as well as the acronym.
- For many techniques, the SciFinder Scholar (SFS) search software will automatically include the full name when the acronym is entered. If SFS does not do this automatically, put the full name into the search by using parentheses.
Ex. TOF (time of flight)
Tip 3: Search the Full Text of Articles via Web Search Engines
Use:
- Google
http://www.google.com
- Google Scholar
http://scholar.google.com
Articles published by the American Chemical Society and Elsevier are not included in Google Scholar.
- Scirus
http://www.scirus.com
- Your favorite search engines
Tip 4: Search the Full Text of Articles via Publisher Search Engines
As the following publishers are known not to participate in free projects such Google, it may be useful to use their own full text search engines. Also, if you know of a specific journal(s) that may cover the information you're seeking, check the publisher's site to see if a full text engine is available.
- American Chemical Society
http://pubs.acs.org.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/wls/journals/query/subscriberSearch.html
ASU has access to all ACS titles (except for Chemical and Engineering News) from volume 1 to the present.
- Elsevier Science Direct
http://www.asu.edu/lib/resources/db/elsevier.htm
ASU has access to most Elsevier titles from volume 1 to the present. To search the full text of articles: - Click on the green SEARCH button near the top left of the screen
- Enter search terms and change the "within" box to "Full Text"
- Set dates
How to Find Your References in the ASU Libraries
Once you've identified an article that has (or may have) the information you need, use the following methods to obtain a copy of the article.
Method #1: Get It! ASU
Use the "Get It! ASU" button to retrieve the full text of articles. "Get It! ASU" gives the options for obtaining the article as well as features such as exporting the citation into RefWorks. (Note: SciFinder Scholar does not display the "Get It! ASU" button, use the "view full text" 
icon instead.)
Typical "Get It! ASU" screen:
Method 2: "Manual Lookup"
If the database you are using does not provide a "Get It! ASU" link, try the following methods to locate the item. First select the type of document you're trying to find: Book | Journal Article | Patent
|
Examples: Tou, J.S. et al., J.O.C., 1985, 50, 4982-4984 H. Pietsch, Tetrahedron Lett. 1976, 4053 Stoineva, I.; Galunski, B.; Lozanov, V.; Ivanov, I.; Petkov, D. Enzymic synthesis design and enzymic synthesis of aspartame. Tetrahedron (1992), 48(6), 1115-22. |
||
Search Strategy:
|
CASSI (Chemical Abstracts Service Source Index)
Periodical Title Abbreviations Books
|
Examples: Opler, Lewis A.; Bialkowski, Carol; Editors. Prozac and other Psychiatric Drugs: Everything You Need to Know. (1996), 384 pp
The Retinoids, M. B. Sporn et al., Eds. (Raven Press, New York, 1994)
Pratt, J.M., Inorg. Chem of Vit. B12, Academic Press, 1972 |
|
Search Strategy: Search the Title of the Book (not the title of the article or chapter) in the ASU Libraries' Catalog; if the title of the book is not given, try searching by the first author's name. Copy down the call number, note the library and floor location. |
|
Examples: Hilborn, James Wallace; Jurgens, Alex Roger. Fluoxetine process from benzolylacetonitrile. U.S. (2000), 5 pp. US 6025517 A 20000215
U.S. Pat., 1996, McNeil-PPC, 5 498 709
J. A. Christensen, R. F. Squires, DE 2404113 |
|
Need More Help? Contact the Chemistry Subject Specialist:
Olivia Sparks
Room: 130D Noble Library
Phone: 480/965-4388
E-mail: olivia.sparks@asu.edu
OR use our Ask a Librarian service
Page last modified: July 11, 2008
