SciFinder Scholar Guide to Getting Started What is SciFinder Scholar? SciFinder Scholar is the online version of Chemical Abstracts, covering chemistry publications worldwide from 1907 to the present. It contains references from journals and patents, substance data, chemical reactions, and links to some full-text documents. It also contains references from MEDLINE. It is useful for assignments, papers, or labs requiring academic information or literature values. Accessing SciFinder Scholar SciFinder Scholar is available on workstations in the MacKimmie Library Information Commons, the workstations in the Health Sciences Information Commons, workstations in the Gallagher Library of Geology and Geophysics, in the Chemistry Students Chapter (SB 046). It can be used on campus; for office installation, please contact Jennifer Lee (220-3726, jelee@ucalgary.ca). Off-campus, you can use SciFinder Scholar if you download and install the client software, and if you access the Internet via the University of Calgary (dial-up using a modem.) For downloading and installation instructions: library.ucalgary.ca Research Databases S SciFinder Scholar More Download the Client Software To access it on campus workstations: Programs SciFinder Scholar SciFinder Scholar Search Options When you open SciFinder Scholar, you will see the following choices on the New Task screen. Click one of these to start your search: Explore: Find references by topic, author, organization, chemical structure, molecular formula or reaction Locate: Find references by combining author, journal or article title; by patent number, CA abstract number, CAS Registry number, or chemical name Browse Table of Contents: View the Tables of Contents of recent issues of journals LIBRARY connecting people and information SciFinderScholarGuide2007.doc 8/24/2007
Explore: Explore Literature Research Topic Search Find information and literature on a topic. Use this if you have bibliographic or subject terms (title, abstract, etc.) Type your topic using as if you were asking a question. SciFinder Scholar parses prepositions and phrases. Filter your search by: Year Document Type (journal article, patent, review ) Language (Chinese, English, French, German, Japanese, Spanish) Author Company Name Author Search Find literature written by a certain author. Enter at least the author s last name. Look for alternative spellings of the last name will bring back variations of last names. For example, enter "Johnston" and the entries returned may include: Johnson, Jonson, and Johnstone. Variations of first names are automatically checked. For example, enter "William," and results may include Bill, Billie, Billy, Wilhelm, Will, Willa, Willi, Willie, and Willy. Even if you know the spelling of an author's name, it is good practice to start with this option. The name may have been spelled differently in the source material used to compile the database.
Company Name / Organization Search Find literature produced by a certain company. The Company Name Search locates information published by a specific company, university, government agency, or not-forprofit organization. Enter one organization per search. Do not use Boolean operators such as "or," "and," or "not." Explore: Explore Substances Chemical Structure Retrieves information on the structure, and information in which the structure was a product, reactant, reagent, present anywhere in the reaction, and for functional groups, where they are non-reacting. Place your mouse over the buttons or click on the buttons to get an explanation of their function. Buttons with a triangle in the bottom right have more options; click and hold down the left mouse button to see other options Drawing tool Change atoms, R groups, variable atoms Draw chains of up to 30 atoms Quick templates Eraser Select tool (bonds, atoms) Select tool (freehand) Blocks atom and ring substitution Reaction tools
Molecular Formula Enter the substance by molecular formula This will retrieve information on the substance, and can also be used to find CAS registry numbers, and chemical names. Separate components in multicomponent substances such as polymers and salts by a period: component1.component2. Reaction Structure Draw a reaction or half reaction using the same screen as the Chemical Structure search. Reactions may be filtered by the number of steps, type (biotransformation, electrochemical, non-catalyzed, etc.), reactions from patents or from a year or range of years. Locate: Locate Literature Bibliographic Information This allows you to find a specific journal or patent reference. Enter as much information as you have on hand. Click on More to enter journal volume, issue and page numbers.
Document Identifier Search Maximum of 25 numbers Enter the unique numbers that identify specific documents here. These include patent numbers, Chemical Abstracts numbers, patent application numbers, and priority application numbers. Locate: Locate Substances Substance Identifier: Enter the substance by name or CAS registry number This will retrieve information on the substance, and can also be used to verify CAS registry numbers, chemical names, and molecular formulas. Browse Table of Contents This option allows you to scan the tables of contents of scientific journals covered in the Chemical Abstract Services databases. Choosing this option will result in an alphabetical list of journals. The easiest way to find a journal is to use the Find options, under Edit Find, or <CTRL+F>
The table of contents page will lead you to abstracts and citations, where available. This page will also allow you to access previous issues table of contents.
Output Options & Managing Results Link to abstract Link to full-text Link to full-text In both the results list and tables of contents browsing, this icon provides an abstract and linked citations where available. This page icon opens the ChemPort Connection page, which provides electronic full-text options. Access to the full-text depends on University subscriptions. The SFX Link will automatically search the University Library s subscriptions first, so using it is recommended as a first step. If there is no page icon, check off the citation(s) of interest and click this icon, found near the top of the screen. The ChemPort Connection page opens, and provides the SFX Link that automatically searches the University Library s subscriptions. This is available in results lists; options vary according to context (reaction results, substance results, citation results): Analyze: for histograms that analyze your search results by number of publications by author, language type, year, etc. Refine: search within results, or limit your results to certain years, document type, authors, etc. Categorize: divides your results into categories by common subject. Available via Explore Literature or Locate Literature searches. Very useful for refining large result sets by topic. New to the 2007 version. In both results lists and tables of contents browsing, this icon allows you to: Display the references cited in the selected documents Obtain reference that have cited the selected document Get substances indexed in the selected documents Get reactions indexed in the selected documents Get a 3D representation of a substance Get commercial sources for a substance Get regulated chemical listings for a substance Options vary according to the type of result list as well as availability of information within the database.