Intro to Library Electronic Database Research: Physics/Engineering

This handout is on the web at http://www.mnstate.edu/library/instruct/physics1.htm

Library Web Site -- http://www.mnstate.edu/library

WebPals Web Site -- http://www.pals.msus.edu/

How to Set Up Your Computer at Home to Get Databases -- 

http://www.mnstate.edu/voeller/netscape4.xproxydirections.htm

Electronic Databases

ScienceDirect

http://www.sciencedirect.com

Collection of over 1 million articles from 1995 to present covers a wide  variety of subject areas and disciplines, including: Biochemistry, Biological Sciences, Business & Management Science, Chemistry, Clinical Medicine, Earth Sciences, Economics, Engineering & Technology, Environmental Science, Materials Science, Mathematics & Computer Science, Microbiology & Immunology, Neurosciences, Pharmacology & Toxicology, Physics, and Social Sciences. Full-text access to over 687 journals subscribed to by the University of Minnesota Twin Cities Library.  

EBSCO - Academic Search Premier This resource contains full text for nearly 3,400 scholarly publications. This collection provides full text journal coverage for nearly all academic areas of study - including social sciences, humanities, education, computer sciences, engineering, language and linguistics, arts & literature, medical sciences, and ethnic studies.

Wilson Web -- http://hwwilsonweb.com

Wilson OmniFile Full Text, Mega Edition is a multi-disciplinary database providing the complete content - indexing, abstracts, and full text - from six of Wilson's full-text databases: Standard CatalogsEducation Full Text, General Science Full Text, Humanities Full Text, Readers' Guide Full Text, Social Sciences Full Text, and Wilson Business Full Text.

OCLC Firstsearch -- http://firstsearch.oclc.org/FSIP FirstSearch covers 47 databases ranging in subject areas from Arts & Humanities, Business & Economics, Conferences & Proceedings, Consumer Affairs & People, Education, Engineering & Technology, General & Reference, General Science, Life Sciences, Medicine & Health Sciences, News & Current Events, Public Affairs & Law, and Social Sciences.

• Try the Engineering & Technology or General Science Subject areas within Firstsearch:

 

JSTOR Full Text Journals

http://www.jstor.org/

JSTOR is an electronic database of full-text back issues of 117 academic journals in the subject areas of African-American Studies, Anthropology, Asian Studies, Ecology, Economics, Mathematics, Philosophy, Political Science, Population/Demography, Education, Finance, History, Literature, Sociology, and Statistics.

MSUM's A-to-Z, online serials directory -- http://atoz.ebsco.com/home.asp?Id=msum 
This directory will guide you by title or subject to the library's collection of online journals, and tell you whether or not they are available electronically online in one of our databases. For example, you can tell that these two journals can be accessed via Ebsco's Academic Search Premiere:

 

Web Sites

PhysLink

http://www.physlink.com/

This searchable source for information on physics and astronomy includes material created especially for this site and many links to other online resources. There are sections on reference, ask the experts, software, astronomy, history, new theories, graduate school information, images, YS (young scientists) awards, editorials, and essays. Also included are fun physics; a virtual scientific calculator; a bookstore; links to newsletters, and scientific societies.

Reference Sources

Encyclopedia of Science & Technology Online (McGraw-Hill)
Provides the finest collection of science reference materials—online and fully searchable. We offer easy accessibility to the information you need to make research easy—with access to all the articles, fully illustrated, from the latest edition of the McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science & Technology, Research Updates from the McGraw-Hill Yearbooks, thousands of illustrations, and the latest Science News® headlines, biographies, and more. This online encyclopedia is tailored to researchers and students looking for the most relevant, readable, and trusted sources of information available. We maintain content of the highest standards, and readers may be assured that our authors are the top experts in the field, including a number of Nobel Prize and Fields Medals winners.

Brittney Goodman, goodmanb@mnstate.edu, 477-2923

Updated 06/28/05, dewald@mnstate.edu