Getting Started
The following resources are helpful places to start at the beginning of the research process.
Chemistry reference books
- CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics / QD65.H3 2019-20
- Environmental Chemical Analysis / TD193 .K43 2019
- The Facts on File Dictionary of Chemistry / QD5.D26 1999
- Hawley’s Condensed Chemical Dictionary / QD5.C5 1997
- A History of Modern Chemistry / QD11 .N63 2016
- Lange’s Handbook of Chemistry / QD65.L36 2016
- The Merck Index: An Encyclopedia of Chemicals and Drugs / RS356.M524 2013
Online resources
- Credo Reference: A great starting point for research projects. Search in hundreds of encyclopedias, dictionaries, thesauri, quotations, and subject-specific titles, as well as 200,000+ images and audio files, and nearly 200 videos.
- Discovery Search: Search books, e-books, and articles in one place.
- Dynamic Periodic Table: An interactive periodic table.
- The Merck Index Online: Contains over 11,500 monographs – including historic records not available in the print edition of the index. Regularly updated by experts from the Royal Society of Chemistry.
Articles
The following databases and journals are useful places to search for chemistry-related articles. Contact a librarian if you would like more information on how to search for articles on your specific topic.
Databases
- Academic Search Complete (EBSCO): Covers a wide range of academic disciplines, with more than 8600 periodicals available in full text.
- ACS Publications: Full-text access to American Chemical Society journals and archives.
- Directory of Open Access Journals: An interdisciplinary database of free, full-text, scholarly journals.
- HighWire Press: Open access scholarly journals in the sciences.
- ProQuest Research Library: Includes both popular and scholarly periodicals covering a variety of subjects, with over 3300 titles available in full text.
Journals
Search for journals that cover chemistry-related topics by using our Publication Finder tool. You can search for specific journals by title, subject, and more.
Getting articles from other libraries
If you cannot find a full-text version of the article you need, request it through interlibrary loan. Interlibrary loan is a free service that allows you to borrow books and articles from other libraries.
Books
Books from Lane Library
Search for books in our collection through Lane Library’s catalog. You can find books with chemistry-specific subject headings below:
- Biochemistry
- Chemistry
- Inorganic chemistry
- Organic chemistry
- Pharmaceutical chemicals
- Physical chemistry
- Thermochemistry
- Thermodynamics
Discovery Search: Search books, e-books, and articles in one place.
Books from other libraries
WorldCat: Search for books not available at Lane Library and borrow from other libraries for free through interlibrary loan.
Writing Guides and Citations
- ACS Style Guide: A writing manual from the American Chemical Society on using the ACS style.
- Chemical Nomenclature: Find helpful information about chemical nomenclature from Lumen Learning.
- Lane Library Citation Guide: Find info on APA, Chicago, CSE, and MLA citation styles here.
- Writing Guidelines for Engineering and Science Students: A website from Penn State that covers all aspects of writing a scientific paper.
