Using encyclopedias & handbooks in the Reference areas, plus a variety of online reference tools can give you good overview articles & definitions and are often a good source of ideas for interesting topics!
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Chemistry 1 : Chemistry in the Human Environment (SC)
Finding Definitions & Background Information:
Print Reference Books:
Encyclopedia of environmental issues
Publisher: Pasadena, Calif. : Salem Press, 2000.
Cornell Ref GE10 .E52 2000 v. 1-3
Van Nostrand's encyclopedia of chemistry.
Publisher: Hoboken, NJ : John Wiley & Sons, c2005.
Cornell Ref QD5 .V37 2005
Kirk-Othmer concise encyclopedia of chemical technology.
Publisher: New York : Wiley, c1999.
Cornell Ref TP9 .K54 1999
Online Reference Tools:
Finding Books on your Topic:
Go to TRIPOD and do a WORD search to see if there are any books on your topic. Be sure to look at publication dates - unless this is an historical overview, you'll most likely want current books on your topic. For this class, topics may end up coming from all different areas of the Library classification scheme ( GEs, QDs, TDs, TPs and more) although for basic Chemistry texts, you want to browse around QD33.
Tripod library catalog.
The library catalog of Bryn Mawr, Haverford and Swarthmore Colleges. If you want a book held at Bryn Mawr or Haverford, press the REQUEST button at the top of the Tripod screen. Enter your name & barcode, and select WHERE you want to pick up the book. Delivery takes approximately one day library to library.
Ebrary
Academic Complete includes more than 30,000 current e-books from leading publishers, including life and physical sciences (2,400 titles). It spans all subjects.
Note: If you plan to PRINT from eBrary titles, you will be restricted to printing only TWENTY pages at a time, and FORTY pages in one session. If you need to print more than forty pages, you will need to close the browser & then open a new window (but copy the URL of the e-Book before you close, so you can paste it into the new browser window).
EZ Borrow
For books NOT available in Tripod, try E-Z Borrow and request books directly from nearby Pennsylvania & NJ libraries. Books usually arrive within a few days and are delivered to McCabe Library.
Finding Journal Articles:
You should be able to find what you need for your Chem 1 papers and assignments here at Swarthmore. If you are having difficulty finding materials here, please talk to your professor or drop by the Science Librarian's office and talk to Meg Spencer. And look for the 
button to link you to the online article, if we have access to it.
button to link you to the online article, if we have access to it.
ProQuest Research Library
Provider: ProQuest
This interdisciplinary database is always a good place to start your research. There is lots of full text available. Covers 1971-present.
LexisNexis academic
Provider: LN
Full-text of thousands of newspapers, magazines, news transcripts, reference works, and legal materials. Includes NY Times (1980-current)
Access world news
Provider: NewsBank
Newspaper collections from NewsBank provide full-text articles from the electronic editions of record for more than 700 newspapers around the globe, including the NY Times (2000-present). Database covers 1977-present.
Looksmart Find Articles
Run by Looksmart. Offers access to lots of free journal articles on the web.
Google scholar
Google Scholar often digs up good resources that the other databases don't. So it is a good database to use in addition to the others. Use the "Check Tripod" and "Find it @ Swarthmore" links to see if we have access to full text.
Chemical & engineering news
Holdings:
(Bryn Mawr College) Available from 1998-present.
(Haverford College) Available from 1998-present.
(Swarthmore College) Available from 1998-present.
Publisher: Washington, D.C. : American Chemical Society.
This is an American Chemical Society which has good articles for this course. Online coverage begins in 1998.
Finding General Web Sites:
Google: Environmental Chemistry
Google Environment
EPA Envirofacts
World-Wide Web Resources - Environment
Citing Your Resources:
For online information on CITING information, check out the Duke University Citation Guide - this guide gives examples of different citation styles (APA, MLA, Chicago and Turabian) for both print & electronic resources.