Physics

The following resources have been compiled by the librarians with specific regard to the field of Physics.

Reference Books

• Van Nostrand's Scientific Encyclopedia. 2008. 3 volumes. Reference 503 V33
  Covering every area of science, this extensive resources offers 10,000 articles and 4000+ images.


• CRC handbook of chemistry and physics. 2008-2009. Ref 540 C42
  Includes such things as the physical properties of inorganic compounds, enthalpy of fusion, bond dissociation energies, table of isotopes, inorganic ion and ligand nomenclature, chemical carcinogens, and traces the global temperature trends over the past 150 years.


• Encyclopedia of physics. 2005. 2 volumes. Ref 530.03 En19L
  Offers a comprehensive and topical account of physics and the physical world. The two volumes comprise more than 500 articles.


• Handbook of physics. 2002. Ref 530 H24
  The complete desktop reference for scientists, engineers, and students. A veritable toolbox for everyday use in problem solving, homework, examinations, and practical applications of physics, it provides quick and easy access to a wealth of information including not only the fundamental formulas of physics but also a wide variety of experimental methods used in practice.

Finding Books

• Online Catalog
  • Find books, as well as a variety of other materials in the TU Libraries.
  • Use the Advanced search option to specify material format, campus, language, and date range.
• WorldCat
  • Listed under Essential Tools.
  • Find books, among other things, to request via Interlibrary Loan (ILL).

Finding Articles

• PROLA (Physical Review Online Archive)
  The complete archive consists of Physical Review from 2004 back to 1893, Physical Review Letters from 2004 back to 1958, and Reviews of Modern Physics from 2004 back to 1929. The majority of the collection consists of scanned images of the printed journals available as either GIF images or as PDF files.


• AccessScience
  Based on McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science & Technology, 9th ed., includes 8,000 articles and over 2,000 science biographies.


• MathSciNet
  Created and maintained by the American Mathematical Society, this database is a primary tool for finding research literature in mathematics. Covers articles from about 1,700 journals, as well as conference proceedings and books.

If you require more specialized or in-depth articles for your topic than what can be found in the above databases, you could make an appointment with Dan Bowell to search two other excellent, very specialized sources that require the assistance of a librarian:

• Inspec - The Database for Physics, Electronics and Computing, this source also includes Information Technology for Business, Manufacturing, and Production and Mechanical Engineering. Nearly 10% of the items indexed are in non-English languages, but every record has an English abstract.


• Engineering Index - covers abstracted information from the world's significant engineering and technological literature, including more than 4,500 journals and selected government reports and books.

Finding Journals

• List of Journals, Magazines and Newspapers
  Search by journal title keyword for online full-text journals, and to see what we have in print in the library.


• Click here for a Science Subject Search in the Periodical List to find out what journals (and how many) we have available both in print and online. Click on the blue links to enter the actual list of titles. The numbers in parentheses beside the subject indicate how many journal titles are included in that subject area. This search includes all sciences, but has a subdivision for Physics under the "P's" alphabetically. There are about 160 Physics journals in the list.

Internet Resources

• arXiv
  Provides access to e-prints in a variety of Physics subjects, including astrophysics, general relativity and quantum cosmology, high energy physics, nuclear theory, etc. From the web site: "arXiv is an e-print service in the fields of physics, mathematics, non-linear science, computer science, quantitative biology and statistics. The contents of arXiv conform to Cornell University academic standards. arXiv is owned, operated and funded by Cornell University, a private not-for-profit educational institution. arXiv is also partially funded by the National Science Foundation."

• Scitopia - Combined Searching Tool
  Scitopia is a search engine that covers the conference proceedings and publications of various physical sciences and engineering organizations. In addition, Scitopia also searches three patent servers: the US Patent and Trademark Office, the European Patent Office, and the Japan Patent Office. A more recent addition is the Department of Energy Information Bridge site, a freely accessible resource that covers a range of technical reports and other documents from the Department and contract laboratories. Everything available on Scitopia is free.

• Elemental data index
  An extremely useful and accessible site, this present visually and in other formats data about physical elements. Accurate information and a powerful database behind the scenes, this site.


• Physics central
  Represents the collaboration of over 45,000 physicists with articles on people, current topics, and even a picture gallery. They have projects that help to make the reality of physics relevant to every day life, as well as news pieces on current happenings in the industry.


• APS Physics Resources
  Provides links to sites of interest to all levels of physics education.


• DC physics
  Created by a former university physics professor, this site has become a conglomeration of items related to physics, including a web directory, a section of practice problems, newsletters, features, and correction of textbook errors.


• Center for history of physics (American Institute of Physics)
  Under the RESOURCES section in the lefthand menu, the Center provides links to Publications, both free and for a price, and Online Exhibits, including Marie Curie, Albert Einstein, Lawrence and Cyclotron, and Heisenberg and Uncertainty. They also have a page of links to physics-related web sites.

Other Research Tools

• Credo Reference
  A conglomeration of specialized dictionaries and encyclopedias that allows you to search for definitions and encyclopedia articles, as well as develop ideas for expanding or refining a research strategy.

• Oxford Reference Premium Online  
  Oxford University Press produces a number of extremely useful reference materials, many of which they have made available here. You can search by keyword, but you can also choose particular subjects and from there, particular books within which to search. This willl provide you with all sorts of background and broad spectrum information on a particular topic.

• Biography Resource Center  
  Find background information about people, authors, famous personalities, and others. Search by first or last name.

Citation Help

One of the least favorite aspects of research papers are the citations, documenting the sources where you gleaned your information. To make that a little easier, the Library offers a few resources.

• Scientific style and format: the CSE manual for authors, editors, and publishers 2007.
  Ref 808.066 Sci27C

• The Citation Style Guide is a place where you can find call numbers for print Style Manuals and Handbooks, as well as online help from several different universities around the States. Check it out and see if it helps!

• RefWorks
  is a Citation Management program. Fully available online, and linked from the Library's home page, it allows you to keep it all ELECTRONIC. Download your citations from the various databases you're using into RefWorks. This program will create the Works Cited page for you with little effort. In a database, look for the option to EXPORT - that is where you'll find this gem of a program.

• Automatically Generated Citations can be found in our Library Catalog (to the right of the item on the Results page), as well as in most EBSCO databases (like Academic Search Premier, PsycINFO, Communications and Mass Media Complete, etc.). Most databases either provide an instant citation in a couple of different styles, or they allow Exporting to RefWorks (see above). Ask a Librarian for more help in managing your citations and creating your bibliographies and works cited pages faster.

• WorldCat.org
  "Cite this item" within individual item record lists the citation in APA, MLA, Chicago and more.

• The Writing Center is also a solid resource. Available in the Library, this is run by the English department. If you'd like face-to-face help individually with citing or any aspect of writing and editing your paper, the Writing Center is the place to go. For more information, see their page on the Portal, or you can contact them at writingctr@taylor.edu.

Product descriptions on this page are incorporated from book reviews and product descriptions from various sources.

Ask-A-Librarian for more information.