This guide is designed to point you toward a variety of resources, both electronic and in print, that should help you with your chemistry thesis/project research. It is also general enough to help you with most other chemistry research.
Review articles are a good source of basic information AND key articles on a given topic. If done well, a researcher will select the most important articles and will digest those articles, creating a single overview of the topic. The bibliography of a review article should provide you with lots of PRIMARY research articles. Here are some simple steps to limiting your searches to review articles on some of the most highly used databases in the sciences.
Annual Reviews
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The great thing about this resource (which cover lots of subject areas) is that ALL of the entries in it ARE review articles! So there is no need to customize your search.
Scifinder
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From Explore References > Research Topic, choose advanced search and select Review under document types. Registration is required prior to using this database, sign up for access by clicking on the appropriate school icon above.
Use of this database is restricted to the TriCollege community. You must set up a user name & password the first time you use this database.
Web of Science
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Run your search. On the results page, go to the REFINE RESULTS in the left column. Scroll down to DOCUMENT TYPE and select REVIEW, then select the REFINE button.
Google Scholar
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There is no good way to guarantee you will be getting review articles in Google Scholar. Adding 'review' to the search box terms might work...
ScienceDirect
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Add REVIEW in ALL FIELDS to search strategy.
PubMed
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On results screen, the 'filters' are in the left column: Under ARTICLES TYPES, check REVIEW.