LibGuides: Chemistry: Getting started with your research

Science Encyclopedias - Gathering Background Information

Encyclopedias are a great resource for gathering background information. They act as good primers and are more authorative than Wikipedia.

Access Science - AccessScience is an authoritative and dynamic online resource that contains incisively written, high-quality reference material that covers all major scientific disciplines.

Kirk Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology Comprehensive articles on topics in chemistry and chemical engineering, with bibliographies.

Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry Covers the science and technology of industrial chemistry.

Encyclopedia of Biological Chemistry Covers the chemistry of the compounds and processes that constitute living organisms.

Encyclopedia of Chemical Biology Chemical biology is a cross-disciplinary science at the interface of chemistry, biology, and medicine emphasizing rigorous application of the principles, tools, and language of chemistry to important topics in biology.

Encyclopedia of Electrical & Electronics Engineering The ideal starting point for research projects, whether addressing basic questions in power systems and communications, or learning advanced applications in neural networks and robotics.

Encyclopedia of Polymer Science & Technology Providing information about polymers, plastics, fibers, biomaterials, elastomers, and polymerization processes.

Foundational Library Databases

Web of Science Provides a search by cited reference, topic, author, and more for articles in almost all important English-language journals. Arts and Humanities covers 1975-present; Social Sciences 1956-present; and Science 1900-present. Works poorly with Safari and does not work with IE9.

PubMed National Library of Medicine's comprehensive database of citations to medical journal articles, with links to UMass-subscribed full text, 1966-present.

SciFinder Web Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) databases of chemistry and related scientific fields. Mid 1800's-present. SciFinder Web requires account registration with a UMass Amherst email account. License terms requires that users connect to SciFinder Web though a computer on the UMass Amherst network.

Resources Specific to Chemistry

Cambridge Structual Database Web CSD Contains crystal structure information, chemical, and bibliographic data for about 400,000 organic and metal-organic compounds.

CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics Online version of the 88th edition of this indispensable reference for chemical and physical data. Current.

Reaxys is based on the combined content of CrossFire Beilstein (Organic Chemistry), CrossFire Gmelin (Inorganic and Organometallic Chemistry), and the Patent Chemistry Database. Searchable via a web interface, Reaxys contains more content and increased functionality.

SciFinder Web Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) databases of chemistry and related scientific fields. Mid 1800's-present. SciFinder Web requires account registration with UMass Amherst email account. License terms require that users connect to SciFinder Web through a computer on the UMass Amherst network.

The IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology Also known as the "Gold Book" this is a collection of nearly 7,000 terms. with authoritative definitions, spanning the whole range of chemistry.

Official Methods of Analysis of the AOAC Standards for analytical chemists. Connect to get username and password. Click "Login" at the upper right of the OMA page to enter UN/PW for searching OMA Online.

Specialized Library Databases

ACM Digital Library - The journals of the Association for Computing Machinery, and its conference proceedings, with some works published by affiliated organizations, 1947-present.

BioOne - Bioscience research journals in full text. Covers 179 titles from 136 society and nonprofit publishers, including some open access journals. Coverage varies; earliest is 1994-present.

DOE Information Bridge - Open access reports and documents from US Dept. of Energy research and development in science, energy and technology, 1991-present.

Engineering Village - Comprehensive access to engineering journal articles, conference papers, and web sites, 1884-present.

IEEE Explore - All IEEE journals (including Spectrum), standards, transactions, and major conference proceeding since 1988, plus some content since 1952, to present.

MathSciNet - An index of the scholarly literature of the mathematical sciences, 1940-present.

Scitation - The journals of six key physics and engineering societies, 1893-present.

SciTech Connect - Replaces DOE Information Bridge and Energy Citations. Citations, and some full text, of US DOE research and development reports.1943-present.

SPIE Digital Library - Six key optics and photonics journals, plus conference proceedings, 1990-present.

Synthesis Digital library of Engineering and Computer Science - Current, in-depth, peer-reviewed reports of important research or development topics by leading experts in engineering and computer science.