Teaching Chemical Information:
Tips and Techniques

— August 1998 —

Chemical Abstracts Online

Vendors
(Contractors who license the Chemical Abstracts database)
STN, DIALOG, OCLC
CAS does not license the full database to every vendor
Only STN has the full database
Searching Options
(command searching, easy web-form searching, among others)
Pricing Options
Academic discounts: STN, DIALOG
Subscription pricing: SciFinder Scholar (STN)
Subscription pricing: CA Student Edition on FirstSearch (OCLC)
CAS Database Options
- STN database system
  over 200 databases with several search options
  ‘pay-as-you-go’
  academic discount available for the CA and Reg File
  - CA and REG file on STN (command searching)
  - CAPlus file on STN (updated daily; more items indexed)
  - STNEasy (web-based searching of 56 STN databases, including CA)
  - STN Express
    Software which facilitates searching of STN databases
    Allows structure searching of the Registry file
  - Full list of STN products on their website
- SciFinder and SciFinder Scholar
  - Client/server architecture
  - User-friendly searching of CA
  - Subscription pricing available
- CA Student Edition on FirstSearch
  Lower cost access to CA
  - Covers 200 journals and dissertations
    (full CA covers ~12,00 journals plus other sources)
  - Basic searching available
  - Subscription pricing available

CA materials from the CCIIM Clearinghouse
Searching CA on STN
Prepared by the Education Committee of the ACS Division of Chemical Information
CAS support page
Includes links to several training manuals plus materials from STN workshops
STN Easy Tips
Available from the CAS support page. Gives search tips for users with prior experience with STN Easy
Using OCLC FirstSearch
Basic search directions for FirstSearch databases (which include CA Student Edition)
Ridley, Damon D. Online Searching: A Scientist’s Perspective. NY: John Wiley & Sons, 1996
Textbook on online searching of chemical files on STN. Provides information on chemical information generally and detailed explanation of various types of searches.
Somerville, Arleen N. “Subject Searching of Chemical Abstracts Online — Searching in the Basic Index”; J. Chem. Educ. 1993, 70(3), 200-203