Library: CHEM 151 (Small) SP24: CHEM 151

Recommended Chemistry Databases

EBSCOhost : All Databases This link opens in a new window
Cross-search all EBSCO databases (50+); magazines, journals, ebooks, news and primary sources, covering multi-disciplinary topics.
ScienceDirect This link opens in a new window
Journal articles on life sciences, health sciences, engineering, physical sciences, social sciences and humanities.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences This link opens in a new window
Articles and news in biological, physical and social sciences; global research from the National Academy of Sciences.
Journals by Title: OneSearch (ExLibris) This link opens in a new window
Search for journals, magazines, and newspapers by title, or browse by subject area, then link into the title within library databases.
American Chemical Society (ACS) e-Journals & eBooks This link opens in a new window
A small collection of ACS e-journals and eBooks: Journal of Chemical Education, ACS Synthetic Biology, Chemical Reviews, Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, and Journal of the American Chemical Society.
Nature: International Journal of Science This link opens in a new window
Includes the journal Nature, Nature Biotechnology, and Scientific American (1845 - current), as well as current issues of several other Nature publications.

Seawater Topic Starter Seawater Analysis

How to Start

Identify Keywords

Is there chemical evidence of the Carlsbad desalination plant affecting nearby seawater?

Brainstorm Related Search Terms

chemical evidence: testing, water sampling, particles, chlorine, copper, mass-spectrometry
Carlsbad desalination plant: industrial waste, desalination brine, ecological impact, biological impact, California Coastal Commission, regulations, long-term impact, Agua Hedionda Lagoon, Pacific Ocean
seawater: runoff, brackish, sea life, organisms, fish, food chain contamination, salinity, beach, shore, swimmers

Database Search Tips

Background information can help: "The six most abundant ions of seawater are chloride (Cl−), sodium (Na+), sulfate (SO24−), magnesium (Mg2+), calcium (Ca2+), and potassium (K+). Inorganic carbon, bromide, boron, strontium, and fluoride constitute the other major dissolved substances of seawater." Britannica
List of terms that may be useful to search: salinity, ions, seawater, chloride, sodium, sulfate, magnesium, calcium, potassium, "inorganic carbon", bromide, boron, strontium, fluoride, "bicarbonate ions", "carbonate ions", "hydrogen ions"

Advanced Search Strategies

“Quotation marks” keep words together to search exact phrase ("inorganic carbon")
AND searches all terms ("choride AND sodium")
OR finds either term; useful for synonyms ("magnesium OR calcium")

Request Articles & Books

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ACS

The ACS style is a set of standards for writing documents relating to chemistry, including a standard method of citation in academic publications, developed by the American Chemical Society (ACS).

ACS Guide to Scholarly Communication (full text, requires MiraCosta login)
ACS Guide Section 4.3 References (requires MiraCosta login)
Murdoch U Sample Reference List

What is a Primary Source?

In the Sciences, primary sources are first-hand evidence and original.

Research studies or scientific experiments
Papers and proceedings from scientific conferences
Dissertations and Theses
Technical Reports
Patents

Search Tip

Found in scholarly or peer-reviewed journals that have a "methods" and "results" sections

Secondary sources are secondhand accounts that summarizes someone else's research.

Publications about the significance of research
Review of the results of several experiments or trials
Analysis of a clinical trial
Letters to the editor, editorials, perspectives