Physics

Reaching your target audience

To create a compelling story, you might want to investigate these three types of sources:

Popular Magazines to get a view into what the public is reading; use the database Academic Search Premier
Newspaper articles - Start with the NY Times - see this guide https://guides.library.umass.edu/nytimes then other options https://guides.library.umass.edu/sb.php?subject_id=128867
Peer-reviewed scholarly research articles
Government information for statistics and legislation; CRS reports are particularly helpful.

Database Search Tools

Target your database search by combining these tools with your strategic keywords.
Using quotes "_____" keeps words together as a phrase. Example: "Climate Change"
Using parentheses (_____) collects like terms. Example: (Sea or Ocean or Coast)
Using an asterisk * at end of a word returns all the various word endings. Example: Flood* for Flood, Flooded, Flooding

Find Articles

Scholarly research articles are where researchers are communicating about their research. Look for academic, peer reviewed, scholarly research articles written for engineers in these databases.

ArXiv.org e-Print Archive This link opens in a new window
Open access to 1,487,358 e-prints in Physics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Quantitative Biology, Quantitative Finance, Statistics, Electrical Engineering and Systems Science, and Economics.
Content is freely available for use by all.

astro-ph
Astrophysics category of arXiv® a free distribution service and an open archive for scholarly articles in the fields of physics, mathematics, computer science, quantitative biology, quantitative finance, statistics, electrical engineering and systems science, and economics.
INSPIRE
High-energy physics information system. INSPIRE is run by a collaboration of CERN, DESY, Fermilab, IHEP, and SLAC, and interacts closely with HEP publishers, arXiv.org, NASA-ADS, PDG, HEPDATA and other information resources.

Web of Science This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
Index to articles from peer-reviewed journals in all disciplines.Search by cited reference, topic, author, and more. Arts and Humanities covers 1975-present; Social Sciences 1900-present; and Science 1900-present.
Available on campus to all, or off-campus to UMass Amherst students, staff and faculty with an UMass Amherst IT NetID (user name) and password.

SciTech Connect
Science, technology, and engineering research information from the US Department of Energy.

Google Scholar This link opens in a new window
Use to access many UMass online journal subscriptions.
Available on campus to all, or off-campus to UMass Amherst students, staff and faculty with an UMass Amherst IT NetID (user name) and password.

You can access Google Scholar with UMLinks buttons from outside the UMass Amherst IP range ("off campus") by two methods:

1. Access Google Scholar through the Library web site by using this link.
2. Go to generic Google Scholar.
a. Click on "Settings."
b. Click on Library links.
c. Type in "University of Massachusetts" or "UMass Amherst" (or a few other variations).
d. Check "University of Massachusetts Amherst - UMass Check for Full Text" and Save.
e. You will be asked to authenticate somewhere along the way to full text.

Subject-Specific Article Searches

The following databases and search engines specifically target physics subject areas, so if you would like to look more deeply into a topic, try the links below!

International Organization of Physics (IOP) Journals
Journals from the International Organization of Physics.
Scitation
From the American Institute of Physics (AIP), Scitation covers the proceedings and journals from six key physics and engineering societies.

Find Books

Use the Discovery search box to find books owned by the Five Colleges at https://www.library.umass.edu/

e-books that the UMass Amherst Libraries purchase are available in the Five College catalog -- find books by title, author or keyword.

Print books in the libraries at UMass (and at many academic libraries in the United States and in several other countries) are organized by the standards set up by the Library of Congress in Washington, DC. This system helps libraries classify and organize the books on their shelves. It's not always intuitive, but there are guides to help you learn how to decipher the system.

Most of the materials in Physics are in the QC call number area. See below for specific topics.

QC 1-999 Physics

QC 1-75 General
QC 81-114 Weights & Measures
QC 170-197 Atomic Physics
QC 221-146 Acoustics, Sound
QC 251-338.5 Heat
QC 350-467 Optics, Light
QC 501-766 Electricity & Magnetism
QC 770-798 Nuclear & Particle Physics
QC 801-809 Geophysics
QC 811-849 Geomagnetism
QC 851-999 Meteorology, Climatology