Chemistry 1A - Research Guide: Web Resources

Google can be a great search tool that can provide you with quality results if you try a few tips: 

• To get more precise results, try putting your search terms in quotes 
• Try using the Google Advanced Search page to narrow your results and filter by site, language, date, and more
• You can try adding the terms site:.edu or site:.gov to limit your results to sites coming from these domains
• Use Google tools such as Google Scholar for scholarly content or Google Images for images
• Always, always evaluate the results of your searches -- See the box below for more information. 

• NIST Chemistry WebBook (National Institute of Standards and Technology)  
  NIST site provides chemical and physical property data on over 40000 compounds. 
  Perform a ‎Chemical Name Search - ‎Chemical Formula Search - ‎CAS registry number.  
   
• CAS - Chemical Abstracts Service A division of the American Chemical Society which provides chemical information and a registry containing information on more than 71 million organic and inorganic substances... 

WIKIPEDIA basic information on Ethanol

Ethanol (also called ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol, drinking alcohol, or simply alcohol) is an organic compound with the chemical formula CH₃CH₂OH. It is an alcohol, with its formula also written as C₂H₅OH, C₂H₆O or EtOH, where Et stands for ethyl. Ethanol is a volatile, flammable, colorless liquid with a characteristic wine-like odor and pungent taste.^[13][14] It is a psychoactive recreational drug, and the active ingredient in alcoholic drinks.

Wikipedia is a great tool for a summary of a topic. Wikipedia content is constantly revised, and entries vary in quality. Some of the content is excellent, some is questionable.

Many educators frown on the use of Wikipedia. Why?

• Wikipedia content is not necessarily written by subject experts, and may be inadequate or incorrect.
• Articles in Wikipedia may be changed or deleted between viewings.
• For research papers, you need authoritative resources, so it is absolutely necessary to consult other sources.
  
• Anyone can search Google or find a Wikipedia article. To demonstrate academic skill, it is important to go beyond these basic tools.

How can you use Wikipedia in a way that benefits your research process?

• Scan the article to get general information and terms you can use as keywords for further searching.
• Scan the article for references. Sometimes these can lead you to excellent books or articles that you can find at the EVC Library or through our collection of databases.
• Don't reference Wikipedia articles in your paper, unless you are pointing out something specific to Wikipedia.
• As you read Wikipedia articles, you may read notations that call for more evidence, or call attention to bias. These are very constructive principles that apply to your own work. What if Wikipedia editors read your work? Would they mark areas for revision?

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Do not use this resource to write your essay