Chemistry

This is a general research guide for the undergraduate and graduate courses in OSU's Chemistry program. You'll find suggestions for locating books, articles, topical overviews, research tools, and factual information. If further assistance is needed, please contact the subject librarian for Chemistry to arrange an appointment: Andrea Wirth , ph# 737-9903, Andrea.Wirth@oregonstate.edu.

  
Table of Contents
Finding Books in Online Catalogs       Current Awareness
Finding Theses & Dissertations Grants & Research Funding
Finding Articles in Journals Other Useful Internet Sites
Reference Sources Other Useful Subject Research Guides
  Dictionaries & encyclopedias  
  Reaction Sources  
  Handbooks & data compilations  
  Property and Spectral Data  

Finding Books in Online Catalogs

OSU Libraries Online Catalog All formats of materials owned by OSU libraries are cataloged in this database, including books, government documents, journals to which the library subscribes*, and videos. You can search the database from any computer with Internet access at: http://oasis.oregonstate.edu.

* Library online catalogs do NOT give you access to the individual articles within the journals the library subscribes to. See Finding articles...

Major Library of Congress classification headings and call numbers useful in chemistry:

QC1-999Physics
QC170-197  Atomic physics
QC310.15-319    Thermodynamics
QC450-467  Spectroscopy
  
QD1-999Chemistry
QD1-65  General, Including alchemy
QD71-142  Analytical chemistry
QD146-197  Inorganic chemistry
QD241-441  Organic chemistry
QD415-436    Biochemistry
QD450-801  Physical and theoretical chemistry
QD625-655    Radiation chemistry
QD701-731    Photochemistry
QD901-999  Crystallography
  
TP1-1185Chemical Technology

If you do not find what you are looking for in the OSU Libraries collection, here are some other catalogs to try:

Summit (Orbis): You may also want to search the collective Summit catalog which combines many academic library catalogs in Oregon and Washington. Materials in Summit are available to OSU students, faculty & staff within 3 working days if they aren't checked out. You can extend your search from OSU Libraries Online Catalog to Summit with the click of a button, or connect directly at: http://summit.orbiscascade.org

Searching: Online catalogs can be searched by author, title, subject, etc. The most effective subject searching utilizes the Library of Congress Subject Headings. The complete list of subject headings is located in the library's reference area; ask if you need help. Notice that each record in the online catalog will indicate the subject headings assigned to that item, and these are usually hot links to other materials on similar topics.

WorldCat: If you don't find enough material in local and regional libraries, you can search for books in WorldCat which is a collective catalog from hundreds of libraries, containing over 41 million records. You can submit interlibrary loan requests directly from this database by clicking on the "ILL" button at the top of the record. Materials indexed include books, journals, conferences, films, videos, recordings, musical scores, computer software, maps and manuscripts. Coverage: pre-1000 BC to present.

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Theses & Dissertations

Finding theses and dissertations owned by OSU Libraries:

  • Go to the OSU Libraries Online Catalog
  • Click on Keyword search
  • From the drop-down menu at Material Type: choose MSS & THESES
  • Type a keyword (author's last name; part of title, topic) and click on search

Another strategy is to search by call number. In the Valley Library, all theses and dissertations have the call number: LD4330. XXXX. X...where XXXX is the year the thesis was accepted, and X is the initial letter of the author's last name. If it is a dissertation, it will be designated by a D after the year. example: LD4330.2002D. G62

You can also use a keyword search. For example: "theses and chemistry"

To identify theses or dissertations not owned by OSU Libraries try:

  • Dissertation Abstracts, a database of dissertations from institutions worldwide.
  • Masters Theses in the Pure and Applied Sciences 1955-. Print index at: Q1 .M461 An annual index listing masters theses from about 225 cooperating institutions in the United States and Canada. Citations are arranged under 44 discipline headings (aerospace engineering, agricultural economics...etc.), with an alphabetical arrangement by institution within each discipline.

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Finding Articles in Journals

The indexes listed here are commonly used indexes for identifying relevant articles, conference papers, dissertations and research reports in chemistry and related sciences. There are many other indexes which may be helpful in the chemical sciences. Questions on appropriate indexes to use can be addressed to the librarians at the Reference Desk or contact the chemistry librarian.

  • SciFinder Scholar
    Provides electronic searching of Chemical Abstracts (CA), the CAS Registry File, Medline, and CAS React from 1907-present. SciFinder is only available to OSU users. It is available on computers in the Valley Library Information Commons. Searching from other computers requires installation of software. More information about installation is available at http://osulibrary.oregonstate.edu/research/databases/scifind.htm As the primary abstracting service for chemical information, Chemical Abstracts provides international coverage of: journals, books, symposia, meetings and patents.
  • Academic Search Premier
    Includes basic, popular coverage of all areas, including science and the chemical sciences. The Valley Library subscribes to most of the journals covered, some of which are also included full-text in the database. Primarily useful for getting background information. Electronic access covers 1975 to present.
  • Compendex
    Covers all areas of engineering including chemical engineering and aspects of instrumentation and processing that can be useful to chemists. Electronic access covers 1970 to present.
  • Web of Science/Science Citation Index
    A comprehensive index providing access to the references cited in articles from over 5000 major journals covering all areas of science, including chemistry. Subject searching is limited to article titles, but access by author or cited author is excellent. Web access covers 1996 to present. CD access is available for 1985-1995. Paper format covers 1955-1985.

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Current Awareness Services

ArticleFirst: View the table of contents of currently published periodicals.

Ingenta: Ingenta is a database of recent articles from many thousands of journals. Ingenta provides you an automated alerting service that delivers the tables-of-contents of journals via e-mail as well as updates of subject searches. The OSU Ingenta Gateway is available at OSU Libraries ingenta gateway.

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Reference Sources

Dictionaries & encyclopedias

Included are several recent sources for basic information in chemistry. Other materials are located in the reference collection. Dictionaries and encyclopedias can be located by searching OSU Libraries Online Catalog by subject - subject--dictionaries.

Example: Chemistry, organic -- dictionaries for alphabetical arrangements of organic compounds, such as the Dictionary of Organic Compounds

Reaction Sources

Handbooks & data compilations

Many good sources exist for finding chemical data and methods. Most data compilations will be found in OSU Libraries Online Catalog listed under the subject heading: subject -- Tables, etc., where the subject is the type of data needed. Handbooks or manuals can be located in the database under the subject heading: subject -- Handbooks, manuals, etc.

Examples:

  • Thermochemistry -- tables for thermochemical data
  • Thermochemistry -- handbooks, manuals, etc. for information on thermochemical methods

Property and Spectral Data

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Grants and Research Funding

IRIS (Illinois Researcher Information Service): IRIS currently contains over 8,000 active federal and private funding opportunities in the sciences, social sciences, arts, and humanities. Users can search IRIS by sponsor, deadline date, keyword, and other criteria. Most IRIS records contain live links to sponsor Web sites, electronic forms, or Electronic Research Administration (ERA) portals.

OSU Research Office: resources for faculty, students and industry.

Community of Science: sign up for a free account, create a profile to be sent e-mail alerts of new funding opportunities.

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Other Useful Internet Sites

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Other Useful Subject Research Guides

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Return to the Alphabetical or Subject index of the Subject Research Guides.