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CHEM 195: Research Practices in Chemistry

Tutorial on understanding the chemical literature for CHEM 195

Getting full text

Once you have found an article you want, you’ll need to get the full text. Since databases like Scopus or Scifinder-n are not full text databases, you’ll need to look at the access options.

Ways to Get Full Text

  • In databases if the PDF is not imemdiately available, there's usually a link to the publisher’s site or a Find it @ W&M link, which will lead you to the library catalog to see if we have it from some other source
  • Go to the library catalog directly and search for the article title 

Can't find it through W&M's site? 

Don't pay or pirate! If we don’t have it we can get it for free to you from interlibrary loan. 

Searching for a Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

Be aware that the URL for an article in your browser bar usually isn't a permanent link to the article! One thing you might want to note when you find an article to make it easier to find again and cite is the article's permanent URL, often called a digital object identifier (DOI). Watch the videos below for an explanation of what a DOI is a how to use it in a citation. NOTE: the latter video is about APA but similarly applies to American Chemical Society (ACS) format, the citation format you will likely be using.