Skip To Main ContentUniversity of Oregon
University of Oregon Libraries
University of Oregon Libraries

Chemistry of Skiing FIG

Selected Library Resources

Finding books

Searching the library catalog

Keyword Searching

More than one word typed in will be searched as an exact phrase, SO:If you want the computer to find all of your words in one record, but not necessarily together or in any particular order, use the Boolean operator "and"- for example:

  • snowflake AND crystals

    If you want to find records that have either one term or another, as with synonyms, use the Boolean "or\" operator:
  • skis OR skiing

    You may also want to use truncation- for example:
  • composite* AND material*

    I do NOT recommend truncating ski* in the catalog or in any database, however. There are too many irrelevant alternate endings or words that begin with "ski\", e.g. "skin\"


    -See the "Formulating a Search Strategy\" handout for more on keyword searching

    Subject headings

  • You can type in a subject term and browse the subject headings. Subject headings are quite particular, however, and some terms will not get you anything. Also, keep in mind that subject headings for books are much broader, or more general, than for journal articles.
  • If you've done a keyword search that retrieved some books that look like they might be good, look at the subject headings in the records for those books. By clicking on them, you can retrieve all the other books that have that subject heading.

    Some potentially useful subject headings:

    • Alloys or Aluminium alloys
    • Avalanches
    • Carbon composites
    • Composite materials
    • Cross country skiing
    • Downhill skiing (with potential sub-heading --Equipment and supplies)
    • Fibrous composites
    • Ice
    • Polymers (maybe with sub-headings --Mechanical properties, --Tables, or --Thermal properties)
    • Skis and skiing
    • Snow
    • Snow mechanics
    • Snowboarding
    • Sport clothes
    • Textile fibers, synthetic

    Limits

    • You can narrow your results, by limiting to Location: Science Library, or Material Type: Book, for example
    • These limits are available from the Advanced Search page. If you've already done a search, and want to limit it, click on the "Modify Search" button at the top of your results page.

    Potentially Useful Reference Books for this Project

    All of the following are located in the Science Library Reference section

    Encyclopedia of Materials: Science and Technology TA402 .E53 2001

    Encyclopedia of Physical Science and Technology, 3rd ed. (18 vols.) Q123 .E497 2002

    Encyclopedia of Polymer Science and Technology, 3rd ed. (8 vols.) TP1110 .E53 2003

    Hawley's condensed chemical dictionary, 14th ed. QD5 .C5 2002

    Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology, 4th ed. (27 vols.) TP9 .E685 1991

    Lange's Handbook of Chemistry, 15th ed. QD65 .L362 1999

    McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science & Technology, 9th ed. (20 vols.) Q121 .M3 2002

    Oxford Dictionary of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. QD415.A25 O94 2000

    Finding journal articles

    Library Databases & Indexes

    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. All of the databases below allow you to click on a "FindText" button 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.

    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 also makes it a good place to search for opinion or controversy papers.

    GeoRef

    • The major database for earth sciences. This would be a good database to find published research on avalanches.

    INSPEC

    • The most comprehensive index available for the physics, and some engineering, literature, covering from 1969 to the present. It includes physical chemistry/chemical physics.

    Web of Science

    • This is a multidisciplinary database that can be searched by subject, author, journal, and author address. It also allows you to see who has used an article in a 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. The pre-1975 print version of "Science Citation Index" is available in the Science Library [Z7401.S365].

    Web searching and useful Web sites

    Citing Sources

    Evaluating Information on the World Wide Web

    Searching the Web (information on web search engines)

    • Web Research Guide to Chemistry

    Questions?

    Contact Science Reference in person or at 6-2661 (M-Th 9-6; Fri 9-5), or via e-mail.


    Maintained by: Victoria Mitchell, vmitch@uoregon.edu
    Last Modified: 11/08/2007