Class will be held in Lydon 203 on Wednesdays at 12:00 noon to 12:50 PM.
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 2:00 PM on Tuesday before the next Wednesday class. New assignments will be posted on Blackboard before each Wednesday class.
Dr. Ruths’ office hours: M 2:00-3:00 p.m. (Zoom only), Tu 10:00-12 noon (in person in Olney 216A and on Zoom), and W 2:00-3:00 p.m. (in person in Olney 216A and on Zoom).
Dr. Schrenk's office hours: Tuesday and Thursday 12:30-1:30 pm; Wednesdays 3:00-4:00 pm, (in person in Olney 402c).
Links to our virtual office hours will be available on Blackboard. We are also accessible via email.
Wednesday January 22
Course requirements and overview; Web page for course (LibGuide); Services of the Library; Citations; Hill notation.
Millipore/Sigma, PubChem, CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, Merck Index, SDS Sheets.
ASSIGNMENT 1: Use of websites listed above, and writing citations for them. Hill notation. Recent popular article on science topic.
Wednesday January 29
ChemNetBase: Combined Chemical Dictionaries. Knovel--electronic handbooks in science and engineering. Sax's Dangerous Properties of Industrial Materials.
ASSIGNMENT 2: Combined Chemical Dictionaries, Knovel, Sax.
Wednesday February 5
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 (Publication Finder).
Wednesday February 12
Quiz (on Lectures & Assignments 1 & 2)
Lecture: Spectra and Latin Abbreviations.
ASSIGNMENT 4: Spectral Information.
Wednesday February 19
Organic Syntheses. Structure of journals and a journal article. Finding old journal articles in Hathitrust. Primary and secondary sources, formats. Refereed journals. CASSI.
ASSIGNMENT 5: Organic Syntheses. Finding a journal article, organization of a journal article.
Wednesday February 26
Introduction to Chemical Abstracts. SciFinder-n. Reading and interpreting a citation. Using SciFinder-n to search for and with registry numbers and synonyms. Content of Registry Records in SciFinder-n. Experimental and calculated values and spectra in registry records.
ASSIGNMENT 6: SciFinder 1.
Wednesday March 5
SciFinder-n. Searching for author names, affiliations, research topics. Narrowing your searches.
ASSIGNMENT 7: SciFinder 2
Wednesday March 12 Spring Break
Wednesday March 19
SciFinder-n. Preparations. Reactions, ways to search.
ASSIGNMENT 8: SciFinder 3
Wednesday March 26
SciFinder-n. Reading older abstracts. Pre-1960 searching. Partial Citations. Citation Tracking.
ASSIGNMENT 9: SciFinder 4
Wednesday April 2
Quiz on SciFinder-n. No lecture, no assignment.
Wednesday April 9
Patents.
ASSIGNMENT 10: Patents.
Wednesday April 16
Open Access, including Gallica, DOAJ, PubMedCentral. Embargoes. Google Scholar. PubMed.
ASSIGNMENT 11: Open Access and Quality of Information.
Wednesday April 23
This class will be held in Olney 218.
Beilstein: overview and scope. Organization of an entry in Beilstein.
ASSIGNMENT 12: Beilstein.
Wednesday April 30
Useful websites for future use. Careers, Graduate School.
Final Exam (Take-home) will be made available.
Take home final DUE on the day and time assigned by the Registrar: Wednesday 5/7/2025 at 11:00 a.m.
