LITERATURE SEARCH ASSIGNMENT
TYPES OF REFERENCES
Primary reference - A reference reporting the results of an
experiment, calculation, observation, or other scientific investigation
where the people doing the work are reporting the results. Scientific
papers are almost always considered primary references.
Secondary reference - A reference reporting the results obtained
by someone else. For example, a compilation of thermochemical data,
or a table of densities of organic solvents would likely be secondary
references. Secondary references will often (but not always) give
references that allow you to go back to the primary sources.
COMMON SECONDARY REFERENCES
Data compilations:
CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics - Available through
the library website. A secondary source that is a compilation of physical
and chemical data.
Landolt-Bornstein - Available in the reference section of the
Green Library (2nd Floor, QC61). A continuing series of reference books
that compile useful physical and chemical data about pure substances
and mixtures. The main drawbacks are that it is written in German, and
it does not usually contain recent data. A secondary source.
NIST-JANAF Thermochemical Tables - Available in the
reference section of the Green Library (2nd Floor, QD511.N57). An
excellent source of precise thermochemical data (with critical analysis of
the literature) for approximately 2500 chemical substances. A secondary
source.
NIST Website - A useful source for spectroscopic and
thermochemical data for substances, though it does not contain many
recent references, particularly for spectroscopic data. A secondary
source. Found at http://webbook.nist.gov/chemistry/form-ser.html
Below is the main search page for the NIST website, indicating the
various search options.
DATABASES
A database is a collection of scientific information. Here we
refer to databases that are collections of scientific publications.
Databases are usually the first place to search for primary sources for
information.
Because of the enormous amount of research going on, databases
are not particularly useful unless there are ways to search the databases
for information. Searching a database has a lot in common with
searching the internet using a search engine (with all of the pitfalls of
such searches).
Common ways of searching databases include
a) Author Search
b) Keyword or Topic Search
c) Chemical Substance Search
SCIFINDER
SciFinder - Available through the library website (though you
must first register with SciFinder, which can also be done via the library
website). This is an online database that replaced the older Chem
Abstracts, and is maintained by the American Chemical Society. You
can do “keyword searches”, though some care is required in this - if you
use a restricted set of keywords you may miss some references, but if
you use overly broad keywords you may get a large number of irrelevant
references. You can also do author searches, and searches of chemical
substances or chemical reactions.
The major advantage of using SciFinder is that it allows you to
read the abstract of papers and other publications. Often the title and
abstract of a paper is sufficient for you to decide whether or not a paper
is worth reading.
The home page for SciFinder is given below. Note that you can search
by research topic, author, chemical substance, or reaction.
DATABASES
Science Citation Index (SCI) - Available through the library
website. SCI allows you to search the scientific literature in several
ways.
a) By topic (though not as efficient as SciFinder).
b) By author.
c) By reference.
One of the most useful features of SCI is that it will allow you to
identify all research papers that have cited a particular reference. This is
a good way to find papers that have come out after a particular paper
was published. However, since there are many reasons someone may
cite a reference, you will find that not all of the references found this
way will be of interest to you. Often looking at the title of the paper
citing the reference is sufficient to identify whether the paper is worth
looking into further. SCI will allow you to read the abstracts of papers
that the FIU library has a substription for.
The home page for SCI is given below. Note that you can limit
searches by author, journal, publication year, and so forth. You can also
do a search by topic, though I’ve found this not to work as well as in
SciFinder. The “Cited Reference Search” is the unique feature of SCI.
COMMON PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY
JOURNALS
Journal of Chemical Physics (J.Chem.Phys.) - All issues
available online.
Journal of Physical Chemistry (J.Phys.Chem.) - All issues
available online. Since 1997 it has been split into two (now three)
separate journals, labeled A, B, and C, each of which focuses on
particular areas of physical chemistry.
Chemical Physics (Chem.Phys.) - All issues are available on the
3rd floor of the Green Library. Issues from 1995 to the present are
available online.
Chemical Physics Letters (Chem.Phys.Lett.) - All issues are
available on the 3rd floor of the Green Library. Issues from 1995 to the
present are available online.
COMMON PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY
JOURNALS
Journal of Molecular Spectroscopy (J.Molec.Spectrosc.) - All
issues are available on the 3rd floor of the Green Library. Issues from
1995 to the present are available online.
Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics (Phys.Chem.Chem.Phys.)
- A recent journal (first issue in 1999) formed from several older
European physical chemistry journals. All issues available online.
ChemPhysChem - Another recent journal (first issue in 2000).
All issues available online.
There are a large number of other journals that are devoted to
various aspects of physical chemistry, or which on occasion publish
articles of interest to physical chemists.
REVIEW JOURNALS AND BOOK SERIES
Accounts of Chemical Research (Acct.Chem.Res.) - All issues
available online. Reviews in all areas of chemistry.
Chemical Reviews (Chem.Rev.) - All issues available online.
Reviews in all areas of chemistry.
Annual Review of Physical Chemistry (Ann.Rev.Phys.Chem.) All issues available online. Reviews in the area of physical chemistry.
Note that most online journals have their own searching subroutines.
ACCESSING RESOURCES
1) For databases (SciFinder, Science Citation Index) click on “Research
Tools” to get an alphabetical listing of databases. You can also access
the CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics via Research Tools.
2) For journals, click on “E-Journals” and then enter the journal name in
the box.
CITATION FORMAT
Different journals use different ways to cite references. An
example of the way I want you to use to cite a reference to a scientific
paper is as follows:
Schinke, R., J. A. Schmidt “Photodissociation of N2O: Excitation of 1A" States” J. Phys.Chem. A, 116, 11083-11087 (2012).
The format is as follows:
1) List of authors. The first author is listed as last name, first and middle
initial. All other authors are listed as first and middle initial and the last
name. List all authors, separated by commas.
2) Full title of paper.
3) Journal abbreviation (using standard abbreviation) - underlined.
4) Volume number (but do not list the issue number) - underlined.
5) First and last page (or paper identification number).
6) Year of publication.