CHM 245 - Pet Molecule Project

1. Use one or two keywords when searching the library catalog and databases, not sentences or questions.

2. If you’re off campus, you’ll be prompted to sign-in in order to access ebooks in the library catalog and articles in the databases. Use your MyNOVA username and password.

3. The library catalog and databases provide the following helpful tools:

   1. • Citation: This tool provides the citation for the selected item in several formats, including MLA and APA.

      • Email: This tool lets you email the selected record of an item in the library catalog or the selected article in a database to an email address that you enter.

      • Permalink: The URLs that appear in your browser’s address field when you’re in a library database are temporary; they expire when you close all of your browser windows. If you want to save the link to an article or article’s record, use the permalink tool provided by the database.

The search field for the library catalog is located on the NOVA Libraries homepage. The default settings are to search for books and ebooks by keyword. In addition to searching for books and ebooks, you now have the option to search for items in other formats: videos, audio recordings, and articles. You can search for items in these formats either individually, by selecting the desired tab, or all at the same time, by selecting the Everything tab. However, I still recommend going to the databases directly to search for articles. One reason is that some databases are not searchable from the library catalog search field. Another reason is that many databases have unique features that are not available when searching from the library catalog search field.

To search the library catalog, type your keywords into the search field and click on the magnifying glass icon. For videos on how to use the library catalog, see the Video Tutorials: Library Catalog & Services page on the NOVA Libraries website. 

Reference databases contain collections of reference books. Examples of reference books are encyclopedias and dictionaries. These are helpful resources when you're first starting your research because they provide basic, introductory information. Search the databases for the name of the molecule that you're researching. 

1. Britannica Academic

   1. • This is an online version of the Academic Edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica. 

2. Credo Reference

   1. • This is a large collection of reference books that covers many subject areas.

3. Oxford Reference

   1. • This is a large collection of reference books that covers many subject areas.

1. American Chemical Society Publications

   • • The American Chemical Society publishes over 80 journals. The link above goes to the Advanced Search page of the ACS Publications database. Enter the name of the molecule that you're researching into the first search field to search for journal articles about the molecule. Use the filters on the left side of the search results page to narrow down your results. There's also a Basic Search page, which lets you browse the journals and sort them by subject. This can be helpful if you're looking for a topic. To get to the Basic Search page, click on the ACS Publications logo on the left side of the banner at the top of the page. 

     • For more information about the database, including videos on how to use it, see the American Chemical Society Publications page in this Guide. 

2. Gale in Context: Science

   • • This database is designed for students and contains several different types of resources, including articles (from journals, magazines and newspapers), images, and videos. You can search the database using the search field near the top of the page. You can also visit the Browse Topics: Chemistry page, which can help you find a topic.  

     • For more information about the platform, including videos on how to use it, see thesee the Gale in Context: Science and Gale pages in this Guide. 

3. Journal of Biological Chemistry

   • • This is an open-access journal, which means that all of the articles in the journal are free to read without a subscription. The journal is owned and published by the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, which publishes two other open-access journals: Molecular & Cellular Proteomics (MCP) and the Journal of Lipid Research. 

4. Knovel

   • • This is a collection of databases that contains technical information. The most helpful database for this assignment is the Material Property Search. This database contains information about the properties of thousands of materials and substances. To get to the Material Property Search, click on the Property Search tab above the search field. Then click on the Open Material Property Search button. This takes you to the homepage of the Material Property Search database. There's a tutorial video on the homepage. To search the database, type the name of the molecule that you're researching into the search field, then click on the magnifying glass icon. The number of properties found will appear in a blue rectangle below and to the right of the search field. To view the properties, click on the blue rectangle.  

     • For a video about how to use the Material Property Search database, see Video Tutorial: Material Property Search page in the Knovel Support Center. Below the video is a list of links to more videos and information about using Material Property Search and the Knovel platform. 

5. Nature 

   • • This is a well-respected scientific journal, which is published by Springer Nature. The company also publishes many other scientific journals. You can search across all of these journals by clicking on the Search link in the top right corner of the page. A search field will appear in which you can enter the name of the molecule that you're searching. Also, below the search field is a link named Explore articles by subject. Clicking on this link will take you to a page with a list of subjects that you can use to get ideas for a topic.  

     • For more information about the database, including videos on how to use it, see the Nature page in this Guide. 

6. Science Magazine

   • • This is a well-respected scientific journal that is published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). The AAAS publishes several journals and you can search across all of them from the Science Magazine homepage. To do this, go to the Science Magazine homepage, click on the Search link in the top right corner of the page. Enter the name of the molecule that you're researching into the search field. Use the filters on the left side of the search results page to narrow down your results. 

     • For more information about the database, including videos on how to use it, see the Science Magazine page in this Guide. 

1. EBSCOhost - All Databases

1. • • This lets you search all of the databases on the EBSCOhost platform at the same time. 

     • For more information about the platform, including videos on how to use it, see the EBSCOhost page in this Guide.  

2. ProQuest - All Databases

   • • This lets you search all of the databases on the ProQuest platform at the same time.   

     • For more information about the platform, including videos on how to use it, see the ProQuest page in this Guide.

1. ChemSpider

   1. • From the homepage: "ChemSpider is a free chemical structure database providing fast access to over 100 million structures, properties, and associated information. By integrating and linking compounds from hundreds of high-quality data sources, ChemSpider enables researchers to discover the most comprehensive view of freely available chemical data from a single online search. It is owned by the Royal Society of Chemistry." 

      • For a collection of videos that explains how to use ChemSpider, see the ChemSpider YouTube playlist. Written instructions are also available on the Help page.  

2. NIST Chemistry WebBook

   1. • From the homepage: This site provides thermochemical, thermophysical, and ion energetics data compiled by NIST under the Standard Reference Data Program." 

      • For information about using the site, see A Guide to the NIST Chemistry WebBook. 

3. PubChem

   1. • From the homepage: "PubChem is the world's largest collection of freely accessible chemical information. Search chemicals by name, molecular formula, structure, and other identifiers. Find chemical and physical properties, biological activities, safety and toxicity information, patents, literature citations and more." 

      • For more information about the database, see the documentation page. 

You can use Google to limit your search to a specific domain. Follow these instructions: 

1. In the Google search field, type site: followed (without a space) by the domain that you want to search, such as org or edu.

2. Type the keywords that you want to search for.

Here's an example: site:org nanotechnology This will search websites on the .org domain for the keyword nanotechnology. 

The American Chemical Society publishes The ACS Guide to Scholarly Communication. The library catalog record contains a link to the Guide. Citing sources in ACS format is covered in Section 4.3 of the Guide.  

Searching library databases is not as easy as searching the Web. You might have questions or run into problems while searching. Please ask for help! That's why I and the other NOVA Librarians are here. You can use any of these options:

1. Send me a message by filling out a brief form. I usually respond within one business day (during business hours).

2. Chat with a librarian (available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week)

3. Schedule an appointment with a NOVA librarian (in-person or via Zoom)

4. Visit, call, or send an email to a NOVA campus library

5. Watch video tutorials created by NOVA Libraries.