Professor Nelson Christensen
Spring 2009

• Finding Physics Articles
  
• Physics on the Web
• Finding Books
• EndNote
• Librarian

Finding Articles

Searching Databases for Articles
If you need articles on a topic but do not have a specific article in mind, use one of the databases below to search for relevant articles.

Remember, articles cannot be found in the Bridge catalog. You will need to search one of the databases below to find relevant articles. Once you have identified the article, if it is not in full-text in the database, click the "Find It!" button to see if we have access through a different database, or if we have the article in print. If we do not have a subscription, you will need to order the article through InterLibrary Loan (ILL).

• INSPEC
  This is the definitive database for physicists. Articles are refereed and scholarly. Search by subject for information on your topic. INSPEC is now available through Web of Science, click on the link to INSPEC from the front page.
• Web of Science
  Search the "Science Citation Index" on the Web of Science. This provides access to articles from all science disciplines. You can search by subject, but this database was really designed to let you search for articles that have referenced a specific article.

Browsing for articles
Peer-reviewed journals that publish relatively short articles on very recent developments.

• Physical Review Letters Online
  Carleton has access to all of the Physical Review journals online, going back to the first publication in 1893. You can browse to a specific journal volume and issue, or you can search the full-text of the articles.
  • Physical Review A: Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics.
  • Physical Review B: Condensed Matter and Materials Physics.
  • Physical Review C: Nuclear Physics.
  • Physical Review D: Particles, Fields, Gravitation, and Cosmology.
  • Physical Review E: Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics.
  • Physical Review Letters: Rapid publication of short reports in all fields of physics

• Science
  Online 1997 - Current.
  Print in Periodicals Q 1 .S34 (Current issues in the Rookery)
  Search this journal which is available in either paper or online. This is considered one of the top scientific journals in the world. Check out the sections entitled,"News of the Week" or "News Focus" or Perspectives." The online version also lists articles that have cited the original article since its publication.

• Nature
  Online from 1997-Current.
  Print in Periodicals Q 1 .N2
  Search this journal, the British version of "Science" which is available in both print or an online version. Pay special attention to the "News" section.

Journals that are aimed at a less specialized audience, though still an audience with a solid science and physics background.

• Physics Today
  Online from 1975-current, except most recent 3 months.
  Print in Periodicals QC 1.P658 (Current issues in the Rookery)
  Search this periodical to find the latest discoveries in the world of Physics. Pay particular attention to a section entitled: "Physics Update."

• New Scientist
  Online from 2002 - Current (180 day delay).
  Print in Periodicals Q 1 .N52
  Search this periodical to find late breaking items of interest. Take a peek at the "Frontiers" section of this magazine. Please note that although this title is avialable electronically, access to the online articles is delayed 180 days. To see the most recent articles, use the print version.

• Science News
  Online 1975 - Current.
  Print in Periodicals QB 1 .S228
  This is not the journal to go to for in-depth articles. It is, however, a good place to find very short summaries of papers published very recently published papers in many journals in all science disciplines.

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Physics on the Web

The Web holds a wide variety of scientific information and misinformation, ranging from popular press coverage and scholarly communications to advertisements and science buff sites. Be careful when using information from web sites. If you can find the information in print, it is preferable to use that.

• ArXiv.org
  ArXiv (pronounced "archive.org") is a repository for research papers in physics, computer science, mathematics and neuroscience. While many of the papers on the server are high quality, be warned that they are not peer-reviewed. ArXiv does moderate the submissions for relevance and appropriateness, and has recently implemented and endorsement system for some submissions. However, this is not the same as peer-review.

• Google Advanced Search
  Many colleges and universities have a lot of good information on their web pages. Use the advanced search interface of google.com to limit your search to academic sites only (.edu, .ac.uk, etc). You can also try Google Scholar which tries to limit searches to scholarly papers. Note however, that many of the results will not be available for free. Check the library first before to see if we subscribe to the journal, or order through InterLibrary Loan instead of paying money for access (your tuition money already pays for the subscriptions and ILL services)

• Science.gov
  A search engine that searches scientific information at government agencies.

• Intute: Physics
  A collection of selected high quality, free science web resources. Intute is part of the Resource Discovery Network, a service through the UK academia.

• PhysicsWeb
  This site is brought to you by the institute of physics. The site includes news, resources, company information and job listings. Check the "Latest News" section to see short articles on recently published articles.

• NIST Physical Reference Data
  The National Institute of Standards and Technology maintains this website, and it is very current. You can find numerical data, reference information and information on papers that have been published relating to the data. Be aware that many of the pages should be printed in landscape mode.

• The AIP Style Guide
  This is the style manual to use in physics. Much of this guide is aimed at physicists writing papers for submission, so not all of it is relevant. This links to the a page that breaks the guide into sections. Information on citing sources is in Section 1, page 1, and Section 2, page 8-9. You may also download the full style guide in pdf (approx. 4.71 MB).
• Assembling a List of Works Cited in Your Paper
  This page from Duke University has nice examples of citations for many different types of sources. Use the Chicago Manual of Style examples if there are no specific guidelines in the AIP Style Guide.
  
  

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Finding Books

The Gould Library has rich collections of books, journals, government documents, and other resources. You may access them via Bridge, the online catalog. You may search Bridge by title, author, subject, or word.

Relevant Library of Congress Call Numbers

Below a partial list of the call numbers pertaining to Physics. For a complete listing, check out the Library of Congress Classification Outline.

• QB1 - QB145: Astronomy
  
• QC 6: General Relativity
  
• QC 20: Mathematical Physics
  
• QC 73: Conservation Laws (Physics)
  
• QC 122 - QC 168: Mechanics
  
• QC 122 - QC 168: Motion
  
• QC 141 - QC 168: Fluids
  
• QC 171 - QC 197: Matter
  
• QC 173 - QC 175: Field Theory (Physics)
  
• QC 174: Quantum Theory
  
• QC 178: Gravitation
  
• QC 350 - QC 495: Light
  
• QC 350 - QC 467: Optics
  
• QC 501 - QC 721: Electricity
  
• QC 721: Electrons
  
• QC 751 - QC 771: Magnetism
  
• QC 801 - QC 808: Cosmic Physics
  
• QC 806: Geophysics
  
• QC 851 - QC 999: Meteorology
  
• QC 883: Cosmic Physics- Meteorology
  
• TC 160 - TC 179: Hydraulics

Subject Headings

Library of Congress Subject Headings are the words and phrases that you will use to do a subject search in Bridge (as opposed to a word search, where you may use any words you like). Although "Physics" is a Library of Congress Subject Heading, you will get better results if you are more specific. If you are interested in thermodynamics for instance, use the subject heading "Thermodynamics." Be careful in your word choices--some words and phrases that may seem very natural to you will not be Library of Congress Subject Headings.

It is often helpful to do a word search on your topic, and, once you find an appropriate source, examine the subject headings. Click on the linked subject heading in Bridge to find other books on the same subject. If you are having trouble finding sources, talk with a librarian.

Reference Sources

Reference works provide background information, useful facts, and beginning bibliographies for your work. All reference books are shelved in the reference room on the fourth floor.

• McGraw Hill Encyclopedia of Science & Technology
  Ref Q 121.M3 2002
  A classic twenty volume science reference work; this resource never fails the reference librarians!

• Macmillan Encyclopedia of Physics
  Ref QC 5.M15 1996
  Over 700 articles on topics in physics and its subdisciplines.

• Popular Physics and Astronomy an Annotated Bibliography
  Ref QC 24.5 .S65 1996
  This is a great place to get started. Lists many areas of physics and where the original literature on these topics can be found.

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EndNote

EndNote is a bibliographic management tool available to all Carleton students and faculty.

EndNote 10 is installed on all machines in the library and computer labs. Visit the library's EndNote web page to install it on your computer.

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