Theme: Information Systems

This compulsory session is intended to welcome new graduate students to the Department of Chemistry Library service in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The session will briefly cover how the physical library space can be used and, most importantly, give you practical information on how you can access the wide range of electronic resources available to you remotely. It will also cover the services available to you from other Cambridge libraries.

This session is intended to set you up so you can start to do your research as efficiently and effectively as possible.

• Once booked onto the course, you will receive a link to pre-register on Zoom.

This session introduces three citation databases: Web of Science, Scopus, and PubMed (if relevant to the audience). These databases index all the scientific literature that is published. When used efficiently, and in combination, they are a powerful tool for finding the research publications you need - so you don't miss out on anything. They will be compared and contrasted with each other, and with using Google or Google Scholar, to find citations.

You will be guided on how to search these databases effectively; the session includes a hands-on element where you can practice. The session covers how to set up email alerts for searches and citations, so you can keep up with research published in your field. It also covers how to find metrics and altmetrics available for a journal, journal article, or author, so you can evaluate the quality of a piece of research, or a particular author's research before collaborating with them, for example. It will cover how to export the citations you find to your reference manager so you can easily create a bibliography and/or cite publications in your own work.

The session will be most suitable for those who are new to searching citation databases or would like a refresher.

Please register via Zoom

This compulsory online course will equip you with the skills required to manage the research information you will need to gather throughout your graduate course, as well as the publications you will produce yourself. It will also help you enhance your online research profile and measure the impact of research.

• This training will be made available on Moodle from 2nd November until 31st May 2021.

These optional drop-in sessions provide an opportunity for new chemistry graduate students who have completed the compulsory online IS4 Research Data Management and IS3 Information Research Skills courses to ask the trainer any questions they have about the content, or about how they can apply what they have learnt, in more detail.

• Please book a 15 minute slot and you will receive a Zoom link. You will be asked to confirm your attendance one day before it takes place. If you do not confirm, your place will be offered to someone else.

Please note only the 15.00 session is currently available.

A ‘highly recommended’ optional course introducing electronic databases SciFinder and Reaxys presented by Professor Jonathan Goodman comprising of presentation followed by hands-on investigation.

SciFinder https://www.cas.org/products/scifinder provides access to biochemical, chemical, chemical engineering, medical and other related information in journal and patent literature. Bibliographic, substance and reaction information is available. SciFinder includes references from more than 10,000 scientific journals and patent information from 63 patent issuing authorities. Sources include journals, patents, conference proceedings, dissertations, technical reports and books. It is one of the world’s largest collections of organic and inorganic substance information.

It is possible to search by topic, author, company name, chemical structure, substructure, structure similarity and reaction. Personal registration is required for access to SciFinder on- and off-campus, please follow the instructions at: https://www-library.ch.cam.ac.uk/scifinder

Reaxys combines the content of CrossFire Beilstein, Gmelin and the Patent Chemistry Database in one search. Validated reaction and substance data are integrated with synthesis planning. Data from all three sources are merged into one substance record. Unlimited access on-campus via the web: https://www.reaxys.com/. Off-campus access via Raven password. (Personal registration is not required for access).

Please see the prerequisites. Please bring your own laptop for the practical element of the session.

Research reproducibility can be hard to get right. The aim of this talk is to raise awareness on the common pitfalls so you can confidently share your work for posterity. We will cover the dos and don’ts of data processing, how to comment on a script, and how to share it. Python will be used as an example because a variety of tools exist for this language. The goal is for anyone reading your paper to be able to go from the raw data to your paper figures.

The talk will last 20 minutes and there will be time for questions/discussion afterwards.

This talk is brought to you by the Chemistry Data Champions https://www-library.ch.cam.ac.uk/chemistry-data-champions