Teaching Chemical Information:
Tips and Techniques

— August 1998 —

Abstracts and Indexes

Definitions

Index

A tool which provides access to a body of information by a “pointer” derived from the original.
Examples of pointers: author names, subject terms, chemical formulas, cited references.

Abstract

A brief summary of the content of a document.

Teaching Points

• Key to the primary literature
• Chemical indexing adds value
  • Registry numbers facilitate searching for compounds
  • Consistent indexing enhances retrieval
• Databases vs. web surfing — (you get what you pay for)

Databases

• Chemical Abstracts Print
• CAS Online
• Science Citation Index
• Important Abstracts and Indexes in Science and Engineering

Grace Baysinger, Head Librarian and Bibliographer
Swain Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Library, Stanford University Libraries
graceb@stanford.edu