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CHEM 2600: Information Retrieval for Chemists

Course outline, information and materials for all undergraduate chemists.

Course Outline 2023

Class will be held in Lydon 204 on Wednesdays at 12:00 noon to 12:50. 

Log on to Blackboard with your university email and password to access homework assignments, handouts and other material.  All homework assignments will be turned in on Blackboard.

 All assignments are due by 1:00 PM on Tuesday before the next Wednesday class. Assignments will be posted on the Class Website and on Blackboard in time for each Wednesday class.

Ms. Muskiewicz’s office hours: All virtually.  Monday from 10:00-12:00 Noon,  Tuesday from 10:00 AM to 12:00 Noon. Also accessible via email.
Dr. Ruths' office hours:  Mondays virtually;  Wednesdays, in person and virtually, Olney 216a,  2:00-4:00 PM. Also accessible via email.

Wednesday January 18
Course requirements and overview; WEB page for course; Services of the Library; Citations; Hill notation.
Millipore/Sigma

PubChem

CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics
Merck Index

MSDS Sheets
ASSIGNMENT 1: Use of websites listed above, and writing citations for them.  Hill Notation, Recent popular article on science topic.
Wednesday January 25
Knovel--electronic handbooks in science and engineering and ChemNetBase: Combined Chemical Dictionaries.  Sax: Dangerous Properties of Industrial Materials.
ASSIGNMENT 2: Knovel, ChemNetBase/Combined Chemical Dictionaries, Sax.

Wednesday February 1
Using a general library database (Academic Search Ultimate). EndNote.  Producing a bibliography. Finding formats and citation rules for journals.  Transferring citations into EndNote.  Locating journal webpages and information. 
ASSIGNMENT 3:  Preparing a bibliography in EndNote, Using the E-Journal List.

Wednesday February 8
Quiz. (on Assignments 1 & 2)
Spectra and Latin Abbreviations.
ASSIGNMENT 4: Spectral Information.


Wednesday February 15
Organic Syntheses. Structure of journals and a journal article.  Finding old journal articles in Hathitrust. Primary/secondary articles, formats. Refereed journals. CASSI.  
ASSIGNMENT 5: Organic Syntheses. Finding a journal article, organization of a journal article.

Wednesday February 22
Introduction to Chemical Abstracts. SciFinder-n. Reading and interpreting a citation.  Using SciFinder-n to search for and with registry numbers, synonyms. Content of Registry Records in SciFinder-n. Experimental and calculated values and spectra in registry records.
ASSIGNMENT 6: SciFinder 1. 

Wednesday March 1
SciFinder-n.  Searching for author names, affiliations, research topics.  Narrowing your searches.
ASSIGNMENT 7SciFinder 2

Wednesday March 8 Spring Break

Wednesday March 15

SciFinder-n. Preparations. Reactions, ways to search.
ASSIGNMENT 8: SciFinder 3

Wednesday March 22 
SciFinder-n. Reading older abstracts. Pre-1960 searching. Partial Citations.  Citation Tracking. 
ASSIGNMENT 9:
SciFinder 4

Wednesday March 29
Quiz on SciFinder-n.  No lecture, no assignment.

Wednesday April 5
Patents.
ASSIGNMENT 10:   Patents. 

Wednesday April 12

Open Access, including Gallica, DOAJ, PubMedCentral. Embargoes. Google Scholar. PubMed. 

ASSIGNMENT 11: Open Access and Quality of Information.
Wednesday April 19

This class will be held in OLNEY 218.

Beilstein: overview and scope. Organization of an entry. 
ASSIGNMENT 12:    Beilstein. 

Wednesday April 26
Useful websites for future use. Careers, Graduate School.
Final (Take-home) made available.  

Take home final  DUE on the day and time assigned by the Registrar: Wednesday, May 3, 2023, at 11:00 a.m.