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Chemistry: Finding Journal Articles

This guide provides an overview of key resources available for Chemistry, and some strategies to effectively find high quality information.

Research articles & review articles

 

Academic journal articles are one way you can find in-depth analysis on particular issues, they have usually been peer-reviewed, which means that it's been reviewed by experts on its topic for accuracy and quality before being published.

There are different types of academic journal articles, such as research articles and review articles. Have a look at this video below to find out the difference between these two types of articles.

Research articles

Basically, research articles present original research results and discoveries. They are often divided into the following sections:

  • Abstract

  • Introduction

  • Method

  • Results

  • Discussion & Conclusion

In general, research articles are very specific and can be hard to understand. You will probably need other literature to help you understand them, like review articles, books, and encyclopaedias. 


Review articles

Review articles are known as secondary sources. They’re often literature reviews, and they synthesise or analyse research that has already been conducted. They generally summarise the current state of research on a given topic, and are a very good source to look for if you are new to a research area.

You can find some journal articles by using the Library catalogue, but we recommend you look in a discipline specific database listed in the Home page. Please watch the video tutorials below about how to search in databases, the Plan Your Search page has more information about building a search strategy. You can also access these databases by clicking the link underneath the videos below.

Database searching guides

Database searching tips: 

 
  • Use the "Find Full Text @ UTS Library" link to get access to the full article
  • Choose the “peer reviewed” option to find high quality academic journal articles
  • Look at an article’s reference list (cited articles) to find more relevant articles
  • Identify the keywords and alternative terms from your research question, and you can reuse the concept table
  • Use Boolean operators and brackets to group search terms: AND, OR, NOT
  • Use “quotation marks” for exact phrases, “global warming”
  • Use truncation character “*” to broaden the search, e.g. recycl* will search recyle, recycled and recycling
  • Search sample: ("global warming" or climate change) AND recycl* materials