Research Guides: Research Starter: Physics: Home

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Databases

For General Physics Articles:

Oxford Scholarship Online: Physics
This database includes full-text physics books from such sub-disciplines as condensed matter physics, atomic, molecular and optical physics, particle physics, astrophysics and cosmology, and theoretical, computational, and statistical physics.
inSPIRE - CERN Laboratories
A database of physics literature, predominately High-Energy Physics, maintained by CERN.

Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
Index, abstracts, and full text for many scholarly publications covering all academic areas of study.

Academic Search Complete, designed specifically for academic institutions, is the world's most comprehensive scholarly, multi-disciplinary full-text database, with more than 5,300 full-text periodicals, including 4,400 peer-reviewed journals. In addition to full text, this database offers indexing and abstracts for Amore than 9,300 journals and a total of 10,900 publications including monographs, reports, conference proceedings, etc. This scholarly collection offers full text coverage of information in many areas of academic study including: archaeology, area studies, astronomy, biology, chemistry, civil engineering, electrical engineering, ethnic & multicultural studies, food science & technology, general science, geography, geology, law, mathematics, mechanical engineering, music, physics, psychology, religion & theology, women's studies, and other fields.
Biological & Agricultural Index Plus This link opens in a new window
Biological & Agricultural Index Plus provides full text of articles from over 100 journals dating back to 1997, as well as indexing and abstracts of more than 380 publications. Subject coverage includes agriculture & agricultural research, atmospheric science, biochemistry, biology, biotechnology, botany, chemistry, environmental science, geology, marine biology microbiology, physics and much more.

For Background Research

AccessScience This link opens in a new window
Contains the McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science & Technology, and The McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms. Includes or has links to full text.

AccessScience is an online encyclopedia of science and technology. AccessScience contains encyclopedia articles, dictionary terms, biographies, research updates, and science news.

Subject keywords: Agriculture, Forestry and Soils. Anthropology and Archaeology. Astronomy and Space Science. Biological and Biomedical Science. Chemistry. Computing and Information Technology. Data, Tables, and Tools. Earth Science. Engineering and Materials. Environmental Science. Food Science and Technology. General Science and Technology. Mathematics. Medicine. Military Science. Navigation. Paleontology. Physics. Psychiatry and Psychology. Veterinary Medicine.
Science Reference Center This link opens in a new window
Topics covered include: biology, chemistry, earth & space science, environmental science, health & medicine, history of science, life science, physics, science & society, science as inquiry, scientists, technology and wildlife.

For Lab Methods & Video Demonstrations

JoVE Science Education - General Laboratory Techniques This link opens in a new window
This collection exhibits how to use standard pieces of laboratory equipment essential in many experiments, as well as how to perform basic laboratory functions.

All Physics Databases

Science & Mathematics Databases

Reference Books

The Physics Companion by A. C. Fischer-Cripps
Call #: MAIN 530 F529P2
Publication Date: 2014-08-19
A Student's Guide to Atomic Physics by Mark Fox
Call #: MAIN 539.7 F793S
Publication Date: 2018-06-14

Reference Books

The Firefly Encyclopedia of Astronomy by Paul Murdin (Editor); Margaret Penston
Call #: REFERENCE 520.3 F523
Publication Date: 2004-09-04
Physics Lab Experiments by Matthew French
Call #: MAIN 530.078 F875P
Publication Date: 2016-09-23

Library Collection Search: Subject Headings

Search Centennial Library by subject group:

Websites

Phys.org
A leading web-based science, research and technology news service which covers a full range of topics.
ADS - Astrophysics Data System
ADS is a Digital Library portal for researchers in Astronomy and Physics. The ADS maintains three bibliographic databases containing more than 10.1 million records: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Physics, and arXiv e-prints
arXiv - Cornell University
Open access to e-prints in Physics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Quantitative Biology, Quantitative Finance and Statistics
American Institute of Physics
The mission of the American Institute of Physics is to advance, promote, and serve the physical sciences for the benefit of humanity.
INSPIRE
A trusted community hub that helps researchers to share and find accurate scholarly information in high energy physics
CERN Document Server
The main repository for research conducted at CERN Laboratories in disciplines of Physics, Astro Physics and related fields. Contains published research, datasets, videos, images, periodical news bulletin and more.
Open Physics - University of Alberta
The OpenPhys project contains a set of mobile web pages with interactive physics lessons
APS Physics
A nonprofit membership organization working to advance and diffuse the knowledge of physics through its outstanding research journals, scientific meetings, and education, outreach, advocacy, and international activities.
SCOAP3
A one-of-kind partnership of over three thousand libraries, key funding agencies and research centers in 44 countries and 3 intergovernmental organizations working as a repository of physics research.

Format Style

APA

Purdue OWL | APA
These OWL resources will help you learn how to use the American Psychological Association (APA) citation and format style. This section contains resources on in-text citation and the References page, as well as APA sample papers, slide presentations, and the APA classroom poster.
APA Quick Guide
Guide created by Centennial Library covering APA topics and how to cite your sources properly.

Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association 7th Ed. by American Psychological Association
Call #: MAIN 808.06615 P976
ISBN: 9781433832154
Publication Date: 2019-10-01

CSE

AIP Style Manual - VT University Library
AIP Style refers to the citation format established by the American Institute of Physics. AIP is the format commonly used in the field of physics.

AIP Style Manual by J.T. Scott (Editor)
Publication Date: 1998-04-01

Research Tips: PHYSICS

Tip #1

Use AccessScience and Google Scholar to begin your research and to identify current background information, news, videos and and related links to scholarly journals.

Tip #2

Likewise, take time to visit PHYS.ORG, the American Physical Society and the American Institute of Physics for the most up to date research and work in Physics.

Tip #3

Sign up and begin using a Citation Manager to manage your citations to create a quick bibliography and even quick in-text citations using the ProQuest RefWorks and Zotero add-ons for Google Docs and Microsoft Word.

Tip #4

Sign up for a Research Appointment with your STEM/Business Faculty Librarian for extra support in navigating databases and the research process.

Writing In: PHYSICS

AIP Physics Desk Reference by E. Richard Cohen (Editor); David R. Lide (Editor); George L. Trigg (Editor)
Call #: REFERENCE 530 A297
ISBN: 0387989730
Publication Date: 2003-01-27
A compilation of the most frequently used physics data and formulae with their derivations and new chapters added on atmospheric physics, electricity and magnetism, elementary particle physics, fluid dynamics, geophysics, nonlinear physics, particle accelerators, polymer physics, quantum theory, laboratory data, references and bibliographies.
Writing Undergraduate Lab Reports by Christopher S. Lobban; María Schefter
Call #: MAIN 808.0665 L796W
ISBN: 9781107117402
Publication Date: 2017-07-27
Writing clear, impactful reports is a crucial skill for science students. This book, particularly useful for biology students, adopts a hands-on approach, using example reports and published papers as models to put guidance into practice.