Research Resources: Class Guides

PHY 171: Quarks to Quasars

F&M Library Catalog

Search the catalog to find out what books, journals, newspapers, videos, maps, CDs, music, etc., the library owns.

To find a book, begin by conducting a Keyword search our your topic. Analyze your topic or research question and break it down into its key concepts, which becomes the Keyword search. Once you have found a record for an item that looks useful, click on a Subject Heading to retrieve other items with similar content.

Other book resources include WorldCat and Open Library.

Indexes, Abstracts & Full-Text Databases

• America's Historical Newspapers
• Applied Science and Technology Literature
• General Science Full Text
• INSPEC
• JSTOR
• Lexis Nexis Academic
• PROLA (Physical Review Online Archives)
• Readers' Guide Full Text
• Web of Science - Science Citation Index

Dictionaries, Encyclopedias & Handbooks

Searches work on the F&M network. Use VPN to connect from off-campus

Oxford Reference Online

Encyclopedia Britannica Online

AccessScience
Sci Ref Q121 .M3
Full access to more than 7,000 articles, 115,000 definitions, 2,000 biographies and research advances in science and technology. Updated daily. Electronic version of McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology,
• Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography
• Dictionary of Physics
• Dictionary of Weights, Measures, and Units
• Encyclopedia of Astronomy and Astrophysics
• Illustrated Dictionary of Science
• New Penguin Dictionary of Science
• Penguin Dictionary of Physics
• A-Z of Physicists - Sci Ref QC15 .L45 2003
• Encyclopedia of Physics, 3rd ed. - Sci Ref QC5 .E454 vol. 1-2
• Encyclopedia of Physics - Sci Ref QC5 .R596 2004
• MacMillam Encyclopedia of Physics - Sci Ref QC5 .M15 vol. 1-4
• Nobel Laureates and Twentieth-Century Physics - Stacks QC7 .D27 2004
• Nobel Prize Winners - Physics - Sci Ref QC25 .N63 vol. 1-3
• Nuclear and Particle Physics Handbook - Sci Ref QC776 .N77
• Oxford Guiide to the History of Physics and Astronomy - Sci Ref QC7 .O94 2005
• Particle Physics: One Hundred Years of Discoveries: an Annotated Chronical Bibliography - Sci Ref QC793.16 .Z4 P35 1996

Where is it? Science Library locations

Internet Resources

A. Search Engines/Portals

1. Google
2. Google Scholar
3. Scirus

B. Criteria to consider when evaluating Web sites:

1. Authority: Who is responsible for the content? Are they an expert on the topic? Does the author identify her/him/them-self?

2. Objectivity: Why was the site created? Is the information presented with a minimum of bias? Is the site meant to persuade the reader?

3. Content: What is presented? Is the content focused, or does it stray all over the place? Is the site appropriate for research/scholarly purposes? Is the design of the site more important than the content?

4. Accuracy: Does the site feature a list of sources, or bibliography, or links to other similar sites? Are other authorities cited?

5. Currency: Is the web site current? Is it currently being maintained? Is there indication of when it was last updated anywhere on the page?

Scientists communicate and document their research in a very specific way. The scientific journal article (peer-reviewed article, primary literature) is designed to allow each reader to critically evaluate the content.

Articles written by scientists, for scientists usually have the following:

Standard for Comparison

* TIP: When using a web site for research, print a copy of the first page for verification. Web sites come and go easily!

Have you tried...

• Astronomy resources?
• Chemistry resources?