Resources and Tips for a Great 5-min Presentation of Your Topic:
BIOGRAPHICAL RESOURCES
Many more compendia of biographical sources can be located by searching Tripod by
Subject, using the exact phrase of
scientists biography. Results are as
listed.
To search for a particular scientist, use
Keyword search for
lastname of person and
biography. For example, Meitner and biography to find biographies of Lise Meitner.
To obtain more detailed expositions of the scientist's discovery, do
keyword search for topic associated with the proponet, e.g. atomic theory for Dalton.
The biographical dictionary of scientists.
Publisher: New York : Oxford University Press, 2000.
Major contributors to a science discipline from antiquity to present are included in this 2-volume work. The index makes it easy to look up entries by subject or person's last name.
Dictionary of scientific biography.
Publisher: New York, Scribner.
The premier biographical set includes deceased scientists dating from antiquity who have made significant contributions. These biographical entries are detailed and contains bibliography of primary and secondary sources. The coverage is international in scope and highly authoritative. The subject index allows for searching based on subject rather than by person. Where appropriate, diagrams and mathematical equations are included in the descriptions.
DATABASES: topic searches
INSPEC
Provides abstracts to journals, conference proceedings, standards and reports in the physical sciences, materials science, electrical engineering, telecommunications and computer science. Covers 1969-present.
INSPEC has some unique fields, not always necessary to use but can help get more precise answers for more complicated systems. For example to look for CdSe nanoparticles, you might use the
Chemical Index field, helpful for finding materials that do not have a clear stoichiometric ratio such as composites and crystals with dopants. (Enter CdSe-bin AND nano* to search for CdSe as a binary system) in the advanced search screen. Limit it to
treatments of application (A) (document describes actual use or a device, method, technique etc) or General reviews (G) (a survey of state-of-the-art) to find interesting
articles.
See
user guide for details on the database and how to search it well.
SciFinder Scholar
Provides access to CAplus, a database of chemical literature and U.S. and foreign chemical-related patents, CASREACT, and the Registry database from Chemical Abstracts Service. It includes journal articles, book chapters, patents, conference proceedings, technical reports, a substance database and dissertations covered in Chemical Abstracts as well as articles currently being indexed, book reviews and biographical information. Covers chemistry, biotechnology, toxicology, environmental science, and medicine, from 1907 to the present.
Check out their table of contents for almost 2,000 journal titles!
FULL TEXT JOURNAL COLLECTIONS: browsing and searching
ACS publications
Provider: ACS
Provides links to journals and magazines published by the American Chemical Society. The Tri-Colleges may access the full-text of the latest 40 years of most of these titles. Browse graphical table of contents for more recent issues!
Nature
Holdings:
(Bryn Mawr College) Available from 1990-present.
(Haverford College) Available from 1869-1949, 1990-present.
(Swarthmore College) Available from 1990-present.
Publisher: [London] : Nature Pub. Group.
Short research articles called Letters which describe original research are placed in context by accompanying Editor's Summary and News & Views capsules. These summaries help to place the research articles in context of the broader field.
SPIN Web
Provider: AIP
This American Institute of Physics-sponsored site provides an online version of the SPIN (Searchable Physics Information Notices) database. Offers citations and abstracts of articles from major physics, astronomy, and engineering journals. Also includes conference proceedings. Covers 1975-present, plus full access to PROLA, the Physical Review Online Archive (1893-2001)
FINDING OVERVIEWS: narrow your topic
Google Scholar
Google Scholar has convinced many publishers to allow their robots to index their sites. As a result, many articles can be found and are ranked by the prominence of the author's and journal's previous papers, how many citations it already has, when it was written, and so on. Look for the new link on the upper right for "Recent articles" -- or switch to "All articles" for the full list.
Click on "Group of n" to find alternate ways to get full text.
More project info and search tips are
available .
Scirus
Scirus searches over 200 million science-specific web pages including academic, publishers and scientific and professional society websites and their publications databases. If an answer is found and to be available through ScienceDirect (an Elsevier product) and if we have a subscription, we can see the full text of the item. You can find out
which publishers are now available for searching. Helpful
suggestions of alternate keywords are offered!
TIPS: Putting it altogether
Tried and true suggestions:- Understand the assignment - always ask if unsure
- Plan - do a timetable, allow more time than estimated
- Organize information as you find them- collect resources (articles, books), make citation cards (these become your bibliography), note cards (one for each idea, these become your slides), detailed notes to track your search and thinking (these saves you time repeating searches you have already done and clarifies things that need to be done)
- Structure your presentation- arrange your note cards on the wall, on the floor so you can take a broad view. Move them around to form conceptual networks or hierarchies to get ideas for a structure.
- One example of structure: the conversation model. See powerpoint presentation in Bb course site.
- Prepare your slides
- Practice timing and delivery with friends
- Give a well-paced talk
FURTHER READING
The ACS style guide
Publisher: Washington, DC : American Chemical Society ; 2006.
The latest edition is on reserve but the older edition is available for checkout.
The essential guide to doing research
Author: O'Leary, Zina.
Publisher: London : SAGE, 2004.
The craft of scientific presentations
Author: Alley, Michael.
Publisher: New York : Springer, c2003.
"What distinguishes this book on scientific presentations is that it anchors all its advice in the experiences of scientists and engineers, including such successful presenters as Richard Feynman, Heinrich Hertz, Rita Levi-Montalcini, and Linus Pauling as well as currently active laboratory directors, scientists, and engineers."--BOOK JACKET.
PubMed
Provider: NCBI
Includes over 15 million citations for biomedical articles back to the 1950's. These citations are from MEDLINE and additional life science journals. Includes links to many sites providing full text articles and other related resources.
