| Coverage |
Engineering Village platform
1884+
Engineering and Manufacturing:
- Journal Articles
- Conference Proceedings
- Trade magazines (prior to 2008)
Details
|
ProQuest platform
1693+ (North America)
1933+ (Worldwide)
Geoscience:
- Journal Articles
- Books
- Conference Proceedings
- Maps
- Reports
- Dissertations & Theses (US & Canadian)
- USGS Publications
Details
|
SciFinder platform
1900+ (some major chemistry journals prior to 1900)
Pure and applied chemistry:
- Journal Articles
- Books
- Conference Proceedings
- Dissertations & Theses
(US, Canadian, European)
- Patents
- Reports
Medicine:
Details
|
Web of Knowledge platform
1900+ (Sciences)
1956+ (Social Sciences)
1974+ (Humanities)
Multi-disciplinary:
|
| Strengths |
Most comprehensive database for engineering literature
Controlled Vocabulary (thesaurus)
Automatically truncates word (i.e. "autostemming) which can be turned off
|
Most comprehensive database for geological literature
Geographical searching
Controlled Vocabulary (thesaurus)
Tables and Figures search feature
"Times Cited" (Cited by) info available
|
Most comprehensive database for the pure and applied chemistry literature including non-English publications
Automatically truncates keywords
Automatically includes synonyms for chemistry-related terms
Automatically includes variant chemical substance names (in most cases)
Ability to search by chemical structure or substructure
Ability to refine search by the chemical substance's "role"
Controlled Vocabulary assigned to records
Includes reactions, property data, supplier, and regulatory info in additon to bibliographic references
|
Original database to cover citation searching and still the most comprehensive for that purpose
Extensive citation searching features
Citation mapping
Ability to sort by "Times Cited"
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| Weaknesses |
Limited primarily to English language material
Controlled Vocabulary is broad
Geographical searching is limited to keywords
Chemical substance searching is limited to keywords
Times Cited info is taken from the Scopus database to which ASU does not subscribe
|
Chemical substance searching is limited to keywords and some "group" headings
"Times Cited" data is limited to publications offered by ProQuest databases
|
Unable to view the controlled vocabulary dictonary
No control over truncation
Geographical searching is limited to keywords
"Times Cited" (Cited by) info is restricted to publications within the SciFinder bibliographic databases
|
Limited primarily to English language material
No controlled vocabulary assigned to records
Geographical searching is limited to keywords
Chemical substance searching is limited to keywords
Times Cited info is limited to journal articles
|
| Search Tips |
When interested in all chemicals within a group you MUST search all the chemicals individually, not just the group name.
For geographic locations you MUST search each variant name or regional description separately
Include the controlled vocabulary term(s) for your concept(s) in your search statement
Use limiters in the left column to refine results
|
Truncation symbol is "*"
If geographic name is used in the Thesaurus, no need to search variants
When interested in all chemicals within a group you MUST search all the chemicals individually, not just the group name.
Include the controlled vocabulary term(s) for your concept(s) in your search statement
Use limiters in the right column to refine results
|
Use the substance search (not research topic) for most comprehensive retrieval for specific chemical substances and for access to the non-bibliographic data
Use natural language in the Research Topic box and avoid words that are Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT)
Rearrange the search statement to possibly retrieve more
Put synonyms in parantheses after the term - do not try to force too many synonyms into the search
When interested in all chemicals within a group you MUST search all the chemicals individually, not just the group name.
For geographic locations you MUST search each variant name or regional description separately
Use limiters in the left column to refine results
|
Truncation symbol is "*"
When interested in all chemicals within a group you MUST search all the chemicals individually, not just the group name
For geographic locations you MUST search each variant name or regional description separately
Use limiters in the left column to refine results
|
