CHEM 471 - Wilmsmeyer

Augustana users have access to articles from approximately 20 journals from the American Chemical Society. These resources can only be accessed while on campus, unless you are one of the limited users that has pre-approval from the Chemistry department to be on the list of off-campus users. If you are a student trying to access ACS resources from off campus, you will most likely have to request the articles through ILL or access them while on campus. 

Our ACS journal subscriptions include: 

1. ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces
2. ACS Catalysis
3. ACS Chemical Biology
4. Energy & Fuels
5. Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry
6. Accounts of Chemical Research
7. Analytical Chemistry
8. Biochemistry
9. Chemical & Engineering News
10. Chemical Reviews
11. Environmental Science and Technology
12. Inorganic Chemistry
13. Journal of Chemical Education
14. Journal of Medicinal Chemistry
15. Journal of Organic Chemistry
16. Journal of Physical Chemistry + Parts A, B, and C
17. Journal of the American Chemical Society
18. Langmuir
19. Macromolecules
20. Organic Letters
21. Organometallics

You can search these journals individually here. You can also access these journals by following the 'Journals' icon on the library homepage. 

When searching for Chemistry literature, there are a few things I recommend you keep in mind. 

1. Be Strategic in Your Searching
   The key to doing effective research is to try and conduct as well-rounded of a search as possible. How do you do this? A good place to start is by 1) carefully choosing your search terms and 2) by searching in the right places. Taking the time at the beginning of your search to draft a plan as to how you are going to go about gathering information can help you stay on track and can help you to identify any areas where you need to devote extra focus. 
    
2. Focus on your search terms. 
   The words that you choose to search for have a great deal of impact on the results that are returned to you. Choose them carefully and do not be afraid to experiment and try multiple ways of searching for the same information. For example: 
   1. Always be aware of alternative names and spellings of terms
   2. Common names vs. Scientific names vs. Chemical Equations
   3. Using asterisks will get you any results that contain the same root of a word (i.e. searching for chem* will return for you any results that start with those four letters - chemistry, chemical, chemist, etc.)
   4. Pay attention to keywords or tags attached to items that  you find that are relevant to your research. Use them to search for additional resources. 
       
3. Use the built-in features of the databases. 
   The databases can do a lot of the 'heavy lifting' for you in your research - as long as you take advantage of the features available to you. In particular pay attention to: 
   1. ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​'Peer Review' filters
   2. Resource Type filters
   3. Date of Publication filters
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4. Avoid using only information that is immediately available. 
   With many of the topics you may be exploring, the best information is coming from journals that our library may not subscribe to. If you only use information that is immediately available for download, you will not be getting a complete picture of the research that is available to you. Remember to take advantage of the Interlibrary Loan (ILL) service available through Tredway library to get access to articles we do not have a subscription to. 
    
5. Save your sources as you go. 
   This is good practice no matter what you are researching, but especially so with our Chemistry resources. Many of them cannot be accessed from off-campus, or have limits on the number of downloads that can occur. If you use a resource, be sure to save the downloaded file somewhere that you can access it again so that you avoid losing access to it when you may need it later. 

Frequently Asked Questions

1. How can I get the full text of an article? 
   For most articles, you will need to be logged into your Augustana library account in order to access the full text of an article. Be sure to do this from the library's website - not the website of the publisher of the article you are trying to look at. Once you are logged in, if Tredway library has a subscription to that journal you will see a green link that says 'Available Online' in OneSearch. Clicking on this will take you to the link to access the full text. If you do not see this link and are logged into your account, you will likely need to request the item through Interlibrary Loan (ILL). 
    
2. How can I access American Chemical Society (ACS) Journals off campus?
   In most cases, users cannot access ACS journals from off campus with just their Augustana username/password. Due to security concerns, ACS only allows the college to select a limited number of users who can access content remotely. You will either need to access the content in person on campus, or place a request for the article through Interlibrary Loan (ILL). 
    
3. How can I access Web of Science from off campus? 
   Web of Science requires users to create a free account while on-campus in order to allow access off-campus. If you are a remote learner who is not able to come to campus to create an account, please contact your liaison librarian for assistance. 
    
4. I am on-campus, but still cannot access the ACS article I want. What could be the issue? 
   There are a couple of reasons why this could be. Start by logging in to your library account on the library's homepage. Be sure to use your Augustana username (without the @augustana.edu) and your regular campus password.
   1. If you are already logged in and still cannot access the issue, check to see if it is on the list of title we subscribe to (see the ACS tab on this research page). If it is one we subscribe to - contact the library, there may be an issue with your account.
   2. If it is NOT a journal we subscribe to, you may need to place a request through Interlibrary Loan (ILL) for the article. Our subscriptions only give us a certain number of article downloads a year, and we will need to request the article for you.