AN
INTRODUCTION TO CHEMICAL LITERATURE
R. S. MYERS
Students pursuing any course of study must be aware
of sources of information. This
assignment directs you to the library's chemistry shelves. For
questions on library use, ask the librarians. If you have questions, ask them! They are there to help you.
Purpose. The purpose of this assignment is to
introduce you to the chemical literature and show you what is happening in
chemistry now. Your paper must be
written in standard English. Typed papers are preferred; otherwise they
must be legible.
Date
due: one week.
DIRECTIONS
1. Merlin
on-line catalog. Look in the subject
file and find chemistry. Notice the subheadings and various fields of
chemistry. Find a "physical
chemistry" book by ______________________.
Write its call number.
2. Stacks. Locate the Chemistry shelves in the stacks,
QD in the Library of Congress system.
The subdivisions of chemistry include
organic,
inorganic,
physical,
analytical.
From
an inspection of titles and numbers, match the above divisions with
numbers. Write down the title and
classification number of an inorganic chemistry book and an analytical
chemistry book.
a) Find in an advanced
inorganic text (Huckel, Emelus,
Gould, Cotton and Wilkinson, Durant, etc.) a principle, rule, process, law,
term, theory, man or woman, or chemical substance with which you are
unfamiliar. Write a summary of the
principle, etc. Cite your reference as
follows: Author, Title, publisher
and city, year, page; for example;
Gould, E.S., Inorganic
Reactions and Structure (Revised Ed.) Holt,
Rinehart and
b) In a history of chemistry
book, select a man or a woman with whose contributions you are unfamiliar. Relate some of these contributions. Cite the references.
c) Find physical chemistry
textbooks such as the one you own.
Examine several of these, and make a list of three (
title, author, publisher, date ).
3. Reference
Section
a) Find the chemical
dictionaries and encyclopedia in the reference section. Select an element in the periodic table which
you recognize by name only. Read the
description of the element and record its name, symbol, atomic weight, main
mineral source, one compound and its use.
Cite the reference.
b) Handbooks. Find the CRC Handbook of
Chemistry and Physics.
Examine it, and describe some of the information it contains.
c) Find Bennett's The Chemical Formulary. Find how to
prepare some familiar substance such as toothpaste, shoe polish, etc. Cite the reference.
4. Periodicals.
A) Beginning students in
chemistry will find readable, interesting, and useful articles in Journal
of Chemical Education, Chemistry and Scientific
American. Skim an article from
one. Cite the reference in this
form: Kolb, Doris, J. Chem.
Educ., 54, 543 (1977). This refers to volume 54, page 543. The author is Doris Kolb.
B) Locate and examine several
other chemistry journals such as Journal of the American
Chemical Society, Journal of Chemical Physics,
Journal of Physical Chemistry, Journal of
Organic Chemistry, Environmental Science
and Technology. List the
title of one article from each of the journals you examine.
5. Chemical
Abstracts
Chemical Abstracts is a service which allows you to
become aware of articles published anywhere in the world. Older printed copies (abstracts and indexes)
are available in Walters 181. Examine
them to see what kind of information they contain.
Ask a reference librarian about the use of Chemical
Abstracts on-line (STN Easy).
Find the reference to a recent
article on any topic approved by your instructor.
You may also access a trial and help file for Chemical
Abstracts at
http://stneasy.cas.org