Work in Physics and Engineering often requires the finding of articles, research reports, books and other forms of written information (patents, unpublished conference papers, WWW documents, etc.). Learning your way around the various tools available to you at W&L will be useful in all your academic work, and developing strategies for searching will be useful no matter where you end up.
We'll use a single example (SQUIDs, or superconducting quantum interference devices) to explore the spectrum of resources you have at your fingertips. In most cases we'll search for keywords, then sort through the results looking for hints that could help to focus the search. Most of the items our searches will retrieve will be bibliographic records, pointers to journal articles and books that may be in our Library, or could be ordered by InterLibrary Loan (ILL); some will have abstracts which summarize content. A few databases provide the full text of articles.
The very first step in searching is to choose reasonable search terms. In our example the words 'quantum interference' seem to be at the heart of what we're investigating ('superconducting' is quite general; 'device' is so broad a term as to be useless for this purpose). The acronym SQUID is also useful, but somewhat complicated by the fact that 'squid' also refers (among other things) to a cephalopod which rarely interferes with quanta.
QUANTUM is in 366 titles. INTERFERENCE is in 39 titles. Both "INTERFERENCE" and "QUANTUM" are in 0 title. Therefore "QUANTUM" is discarded.A try for 'squid*' gets one item (the * gets squid/squids/squiddy, etc.):
AUTHOR Cousteau, Jacques Yves. TITLE Pieuvres. English. Octopus and squid, the soft intelligence [by] Jacques-Yves Cousteau and Philippe Diole. Translated from the French by J. F. Bernard. EDITION [1st ed. in the U.S.A.] With 124 photos. in full color. PUBLISHER Garden City, N.Y., Doubleday [1973] DESCRIPT 304 p. illus. (part col.) 27 cm. SERIES The Undersea discoveries of Jacques-Yves Cousteau. NOTE Translation of Pieuvres. BIBLIOG. Bibliography: p. [301]-302. SUBJECT Octopus. LOCATION CALL NO. 1 > Leyburn Library QL430.3.O2 C6813 1973In short, the book route seems not profitable at W&L, though there are a number of reference books which are well worth a look (McGraw Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology [REF Q121 .M3 1992] has a good brief article on SQUIDs; I also found useful information in Encyclopedia of Physics and Technology [REF Q123.E4974], Encyclopedia of Analytical Science [REF QD71.5.E53], and Encyclopedia of Earth System Science [REF QE5.E514]. Van Nostrand's Scientific Encyclopedia [REF Q121 .V3 1995] and Magill's Survey of Science --Applied Science [REF TA145 .M298 1993] are both usually good sources, but are not well supplied with material on superconductivity and neither mentions SQUIDs).
You searched for the WORD: quantum interference PERIODICAL ABSTRACTS 9 entries found, entries 1-8 are: APPEARS IN DATE 1 Physics : More than one mystery: Ex Choice Jun 95 2 More than one mystery : Quantum inter American Journal of Physi Jun 93 3 Book reviews : Superconducting Quant Contemporary Physics Mar 93 4 Quantum interference in a mesoscopic Nature Jan 93 5 Some Benefits of Quantum Interference Physics Today May 92 6 Quantum Interference Viewed in the Fr American Journal of Physi Feb 92 7 Quantum Interference Science News Dec 89 8 Quantum Interference and the Aharonov Scientific American Apr 89 9 Quantum Interference Fluctuations in Physics Today Dec 88Clearly there are some potentially useful articles here, but the keyword seach for 'squid*' produces a bingo if you're starting to learn about SQUIDs and want a general article:
You searched for the WORD: squid* PERIODICAL ABSTRACTS 118 entries found, entries 1-8 are: APPEARS IN DATE 1 6 lures every tacklebox should have : Boating Jul 95 2 Detection of 14N and 35Cl in cocaine Analytical Chemistry Jul 95 3 A dorsal light reflex in a squid Journal of Experimental B May 95 4 He seeks the giant squid Popular Science May 95 5 Genetic variation in the neritic squi Marine Biology Mar 95 6 Detection and quantification of Vibri Journal of Bacteriology Feb 95 7 Flexible reproductive strategies in t Marine Biology Jan 95 8 Microencapsulation of squid oil with Journal of Food Science Jan 95 9 Stochastic resonance and the benefits Nature Jan 95 10 A vote for squid, beer, and Banco O'H Fortune Dec 94 11 An ethogram of body patterning behavi Biological Bulletin Dec 94 12 High-resolution measurement of the ti Biological Bulletin Dec 94 13 SQUIDs cross a watershed Nature Dec 94 14 The inositol high-polyphosphate serie Proceedings of the Nation Dec 94 15 Consumed by Calamari : Squidding Premiere Nov 94 16 Characterization and solubilization o Biological Bulletin Oct 94 17 Crossing a squid and a seashell Sea Frontiers Oct 94 18 Protein synthesis in nverve endings f Biological Bulletin Oct 94 19 Stalking the giant squid Popular Mechanics Sep 94 20 Heating up some SQUIDS Science Aug 94 21 Mercury-based cuprate high-transition Science Aug 94 22 Quantification of L-dopa and dopamine Biological Bulletin Aug 94 23 SQUIDs Scientific American Aug 94 24 Structural basis for wavelength discr Journal of Experimental B Aug 94#23 is an intense 7 pages of general introduction to the technology and its applications, clear and concise --and NOT in the set retrieved by the 'quantum interference' search:
AUTHOR Clarke, John. TITLE SQUIDs. APPEARS IN Scientific American 1994, v271n2, Aug p. 46-53. SUMMARY Short for superconducting quantum interference devices, SQUIDs constitute the first practical application of high-temperature ceramic superconductors. The probes detect quantum changes in magnetic fields and therefore have become indispensable in basic research. SUBJECT Quantum theory. Holdings: SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN 1 > Leyburn Library PERIODICALS LIB HAS: 40(1879)-43(1880),54(1886),62(1890),73(1895)-79(1898),89(1903)...This record tells us some useful things about Periodical Abstracts Online:
We'll be looking at Liberty's Commercial Databases offerings, at the online catalogs of a number of research libraries, and at World Wide Web possibilities as well.
Which database do you wish to access? 1. UnCover 2. FirstSearch 3. Lexis/Nexis 99. Return to Main Menu