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ChemPort: SciFinder's document access linker. Typically links to publisher's website.
Search all of PLU's physical and digital collection in one place. Best when used for broad, general research.
Peer-reviewed literature in chemistry from the American Chemical Society (ACS), the world's largest scientific society for chemistry professionals.
What if PLU doesn’t own the book or article you want?
Interlibrary Loan (ILL) is a free service that allows current PLU students, faculty, & staff to receive books, articles, and other materials from other libraries. Some things to keep in mind when using ILL:
The Interlibrary Loan link can be found either:
If you have any problems or questions, please email ill@plu.edu.
Primary sources: documents of direct experience; formal or informal; formal examples usually peer reviewed.
Secondary sources: organize, distil, or review primary sources. Review articles are a type of secondary source that can be very useful for understanding and finding primary sources.
Tertiary sources: discovery tools for primary and secondary sources.
How to identify where your source fits into the ecosystem:
- identify its genre (journal article, patent, review article, etc)
- identify its medium of publication (the journal title, the name of the conference, the book series, etc)
- the content of the resource itself. In particular, how far removed is it from direct observation of its subject?
For examples of primary and secondary sources, see the Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary tab.
Here is an article published in Chemical & Engineering News, a scientific magazine:
And here is one of the articles it cites:
What are some key differences between them? Where do they fall in the publishing ecosystem?
Peer-reviewed literature in chemistry from the American Chemical Society (ACS), the world's largest scientific society for chemistry professionals.
If you haven't created a SciFinder login, you will need to in order to use it. This is separate from your ePass. You can use SciFinder from anywhere but must register on campus.
Once logged in, you have two main areas in SciFinder to search:
Explore References to find articles, reports, patents, and other documents pertaining to research.
Explore Substances to find information about a substance or compound. Enter search terms or draw your molecular structure!
SciFinder | MEDLINE (EBSCO) | PubMed | |
---|---|---|---|
Coverage | Citations from MEDLINE and Chemical Abstracts Plus, a chemistry indexing and abstracting service. | Citations from around 5,000 journals in biomedicine, biology, and health. Created and maintained by the National Library of Medicine. | Citations from MEDLINE and prepress articles (articles that have not yet been published). |
Full-text access | Click "Link to Other Sources" to check for online access. If not available, use ILL to request. | Look for a full text link or "Check the PLU Library for full text". If not available, use the "Order from Interlibrary Loan" link to request. | Look for a full text link or "PLU Full Text" logo. If not available, use ILL to request. |
Availability | By subscription only; you must create an account on the SciFinder platform. | By subscription only; access from anywhere. | Free; access from anywhere. |