Researching Controversial Issues
in Honors Chemistry 225

Getting Background Information and Facts

There are reference books in the Science Library, such as subject encyclopedias and handbooks, that can help you. The following titles may be useful, or ask a reference librarian to help you locate others. All of these are located in Science Reference:

• Encyclopedia of chemical technology (Kirk-Othmer), 4th ed. [TP9 .E685 1991]
• Encyclopedia of physical science and technology, 3rd ed. [Q123 .E497 2002]
  
• McGraw-Hill encyclopedia of science & technology, 9th ed. [Q121 .M3 2002]
• Sittig's handbook of toxic and hazardous chemicals and carcinogens, 4th ed. [RA1215 .S58 2002]

See also the resources listed on the Library's web guide for starting Research in Chemistry.

The CQ researcher

This is NOT a database like the ones listed below; you look it up in the Library Catalog. [Left section of the Library homepage.] Explores a single "hot" issue in the news in depth each week. Topics range from social and teen issues to environment, health, education and science and technology. A good place for an overview of a controversial issue.

Finding Journal, Newspaper and Magazine Articles

All of these can be found on the UO Libraries home page under "Databases & Indexes" (center section of page.)

These are online finding tools, or indexes, for journal articles and other publications. All contain citations; most contain abstracts; and some contain, or link to, the full text of articles.

I recommend the following as most generally helpful, and for getting started:

Academic Search Premier

An interdisciplinary article index with many full-text articles. Features include 'peer reviewed only' and 'full-text only' search options. The mix of scholarly and popular journals make it a good place to search for opinion or controversy papers. Use the 'FindText' link to determine if an article is available outside of Academic Search Premier, or if it is owned by the UO Libraries.

Medline (& PubMed)

Medline covers all areas of biomedicine, including cell and molecular biology, genetics, etc., as well as clinical medicine, this will be most useful for looking up information about humans, as opposed to other animals or plants. From within this database you can check if the UO Libraries own the journal containing an article you want (you can even limit your search to journals held by UO), and if not, request an interlibrary loan. You also can use the 'FindText' button to find out if there is electronic full-text for a given article. Medline is also available through through PubMed, but without the special features above.

Web of Science

This is a multidisciplinary database that can be searched by subject, author, journal, and/or author address. It also allows you to see who has used an article in their bibliography, or who has "cited," a particular published paper. You can trace a specific work by tracking the papers that quote it in the literature and to identify more recent articles on the same topic. Click on the 'FindText' button (found in the Full Record of a citation) to see if the UO has the article in electronic full-text. If not, you can check if the UO Libraries own a print copy of the journal containing an article you want, or request it from another library.

More specialized databases:
(All of these databases feature the 'FindText' function, except Lexis-Nexis.)

Agricola

A database produced by the National Agriculture Library that covers all areas of botany and plant science (not just agriculture); also forestry and entomology. Definitely worth trying if you are researching a pesticide.

Aquatics Sciences & Fisheries Abstracts

ASFA (Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries Abstracts) indexes journals, books, reports, and conference proceedings on all aspects of marine, freshwater, and brackish environments. Coverage is from 1978 to the present and is updated monthly.

BIOSIS

BIOSIS covers original research reports and reviews in biological and biomedical areas. Coverage includes traditional areas of biology, such as botany, zoology and microbiology, as well as related fields such as plant and animal science, agriculture, pharmacology and ecology. Interdisciplinary fields such as biochemistry, biophysics, and bioengineering are also included. Information is available from 1996 to the present.

Inspec

Focuses on physics (including chemical physics/physical chemistry), electrical engineering and electronics, computing, and information technology. Major sources are scientific and technical journals and conference proceedings.

Lexis-Nexis Academic (Academic Universe)

Lexis-Nexis Academic provides comprehensive coverage of current news, business and company information, government and legal information, and medical information from over 6,000 sources.

SciFinder Scholar

A desktop research tool for information on chemical and chemistry-related topics. SciFinder includes the CAS Registry and CAplus databases. CAS Registry is the largest substance database and the CAplus database has citations and abstracts for the chemistry literature, including patents, from 1967 to present. Requires that you download software to your own computer; can be difficult to access because of license restrictions.

Remember: check the bibliographies of articles you like to find other materials on your topic.

Maintained by: Victoria Mitchell, vmitch@uoregon.edu
Last Modified: 08/10/2006