by:
Ridley, Damon D.

Publisher:
John Wiley and Sons
Published:April 19, 2002
ISBN:0470843519
Format:Paperback
Pages:252

Description: From Book News, Inc.
SciFinder Scholar provides desktop access to several databases from the Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) and to the bibliographic database from the U.S. National Library for Medicine. This guide identifies what and how information is organized in SciFinder Scholar, and recommends strategies for searching by topic or chemical substance. A separate chapter on searching for chemical reactions helps synthetic chemists find information in the complex area of chemical reactions.Copyright # 2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Product Description:
Are you are a researcher, in industry or in academia, in the chemical, life, medical or physical sciences? - If so, this text will help you use SciFinder in a way which will increase your research creativity and productivity.

Information retrieval is arguably one of the most important skills a scientist needs in the 21st Century. The SciFinder interface to the world's scientific literature is both unique and innovative and while it is intuitive and has a very user-friendly interface, searches will be performed more effectively and efficiently with an understanding of the databases involved and the processes by which SciFinder searches.

This 'behind the scenes' look at SciFinder summarises the databases and explains how the user may creatively take advantage of the unique search opportunities provided.

I have done a search but why did I get this answer? This text explains why, and more importantly, discusses how you may best use the 40+ options in SciFinder, such as topic, bibliographic and chemical substance explore options, to get the best answers possible.

Complementary rather than an alternative to the proprietary websites and manuals the book explains:

the content of electronic information resources and why it helps if scientists understand some basic issues involved with information retrieval
why it is important, and how, to apply scientific method to information retrieval
selected algorithms behind the operation of SciFinder/SciFinder Scholar and why it helps to understand them for effective searching
how to set up the search question and how SciFinder/SciFinder Scholar, essentially a research tool, may be used creatively to initiate research ideas
why certain answers are retrieved and how to revise answers in a way that maximises comprehensive and precise retrieval of information