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Chemistry: Preliminary Research

Guide to research tools and resources for finding information about chemistry.

Preliminary Research

An important early step is to become familiar with the overall topic of interest. You'll get a sense of what is known on the subject and various subtopics. Follow your interests and decide on a specific focus for your research.

Explore your topic by using encyclopedias, scanning books, looking at headlines in the news and popular media, and by skimming journal titles and abstracts. 

Write down the terms, symbols, people, events, or categories used to describe your topic and your (ever more) specific focus. These words (and their synonyms) will help you to find additional information sources.

Science News Google Search

Science-Related News Search

Search selected science news sources on the web via Google.

Hint: Some articles that are behind a paywall might be available for free in the library's databases. Ask a librarian about it.

Preliminary Research Stragegies

Use encyclopedias to gather leads...

such as terms, concepts, names, and more. 

Skim tables-of-contents & indexes of books

Glance through news & magazine articles

Browse websites or blog posts

Read titles & abstracts from journals

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