Find an article here:

The above search box is searching the following specific databases, that you might want to try individually:

Academic Search Premier

• Good for its mix of popular, news and scholarly articles. You have to exercise your critical evaluation skills to help determine what's what. (Do NOT rely solely on their limit to peer-reviewed feature--it is not reliable.)

Agricola

• Produced by the National Agriculture Library, this database covers far more than "traditional" agriculture. E.g., you could find articles on using electronic noses to analyze wines, or how floral scents interact with pollinators.

Web of Science

• Interdisciplinary science database, a heavily-used source for science literature. Highly recommended.

See also:

Google Scholar

• Google for academics.

This worksheet will help you develop keyword searches that get results.

Find a book

in UOWorldCat (UO Libraries and beyond)

A few book search tips:

• Use less specific terms than when searching for articles. E.g., if you want books that will tell you about electronic noses, you might need to search for a book on chemical sensors or sensor systems, which would include electronic noses.
• UO WorldCat searches for articles, and many other formats besides books. To limit to books, click on book under format on the left side.
• You may get better results if you do a Subject Heading search for a broad term. To do a search by Subject, go to Advanced Search. You also can click on the subject heading links at the bottom of the full record display for a book that you like, to get more like it.

Breaking analytical chemistry news

Tutorials

Reference Sources

Print
(Located in the Science Library)

Encyclopedia of Analytical Science.(6 vols.) SCI REF QD71.5 .E53 1995

Encyclopedia of Life Sciences. (20 vols.) SCI REF QH302.5 .E53 2001

• See entries on chemosensory systems, olfaction, plant volatiles.

McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology (20 vols.) SCI REF Q121 .M3 2007

Online
(You must be on campus, or an authorized UO user if off campus, to access)

Chemistry: Foundations & Applications also in print SCI REF QD4 .C48 2004

• Short articles; good for basic information on common compounds, methods, phenomena, analytical techniques.

Encyclopedia of Biological Chemistry  also in print: SCI REF QD415 .A25 E53 2004

• A good source of information on the biochemistry of olfaction, ofactory receptors, etc.

Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine

• Could be useful for smelling disorders, etc.

Oxford Reference Premium

• Contains many dictionaries, scientific and otherwise.

Compare the above reference sources with:
Wikipedia

• Do the articles have identified authors? Are the authors' credentials and affiliations available? Do the articles have references or bibliographies? If so, are there differences in the kinds of references given?
• Wikipedia is a very handy, free Internet source, but it is not necessarily reliable. For a humorous demonstration of this phenomenon, watch this excerpt of the Colbert Report. (Some improvements have been made to Wikipedia security since this was aired.)

Citing Sources

You can find an abridged, online version of the ACS Style Guide here:
ACS Style Guidelines from Emily Wixson, U Wisconsin-Madison Chemistry Library.

For complete information, see the 3rd edition of the book in Science Reference:
The ACS Style Guide: Effective Communication of Scientific Communication [SCI REF QD8.5 .A25 2006]

For more information about citing sources generally, other style formats, and citing electronic sources, see:
Citing Sources in Research Papers
 

Evaluating Sources

Articles for your in-class exercise:

Article #1
Article #2
Article #3
Article #4

This web page contains a wealth of information on evaluating information sources both in print and on the Web: Critical Evaluation of Information Sources

To determine whether a particular periodical (magazine, journal) is scholarly (peer-reviewed, refereed) or popular, see these pages:

• Scholarly or Popular?
• Types of Periodicals (pdf)

What is "peer-review"?

Here are a couple of pdfs that provide good explanations of what it is (and is not), and why it's particularly important in the sciences:

• Peer Review in a Nutshell
• Sense About Science Short Peer Review Guide

(NB: both of the above are produced in the UK, so there are a few Britishisms that may not make sense)