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FCH 232 - Career Skills for Chemists: Find Articles

This guide supplements the information literacy portions of the FCH 232 course.

Recommended Databases

Start with these databases when searching for sources for your position paper. Look for the ESFLinks button and other full text links to get complete articles.

Academic Search Complete - Multidisciplinary database with over 7,300 peer-reviewed journals and citations and abstracts for more than 13,200 publications.

SciFinder - Search abstracts for literature on chemistry, materials science, agricultural science, and more. 

Newspaper Sources

Print Newspapers

The current week of The New York Times is available at Moon Library's main service desk.

Electronic Newspapers

For a wide variety of news coverage, please explore the resources listed below:

Off-Campus Access to Databases and Resources

To access subscription library resources from off campus:

  • Always go through links found on Moon Library's website: http://www.esf.edu/moonlib/
  • Navigate to and select the resource you are looking for (JSTOR, Academic Search Complete, etc.)
  • You will need to login with your ESFiD: username@esf.edu and the password you created with Computing and Network Services.  You will then be prompted verify authentication with the DUO mobile security app.

Determine peer-review

It can be intimidating to read a technical peer-reviewed article. It can also be difficult to determine which articles are peer-reviewed. Here are some tips that may help you:

-What are the authors' affiliations? Do they have PhDs? Do they currently work in an academic/research institution? 

-Do you see a series of dates (submitted on... accepted on...) anywhere? How current is the issue? Is that important?

-Does the paper conform to traditional scientific journal format, (abstract, intro/literature review, methods, results, discussion, conclusion)?

-Is there a rather long list of references?

-Are there acknowledgments to reviewers, grants, or contributors?

-Does the article look "boring"? Compare it to something like Time or National Geographic.

If you can answer yes to most of these questions you probably have a peer-reviewed journal. If you are having difficulty you can contact a librarian and we would love to help you!

Search Google Scholar

Google Scholar Search