Chemistry Resources - Keyword Searching in Chemical Abstracts

Chemical Abstracts on CD-ROM Tutorial

Introduction
Online Access to CA on CD
Start CA on CD
Basic CA on CD Citation
Browsable Fields in CA on CD
Keyword Searching
Author Searching
Molecular Formula Searching
Example Search Strategies
Compound Searching
Disp., Download & Prt. Results
Saving Search Queries
CA on CD Std. Abbreviations
Journal Title Abbreviations
Contact a Librarian

Keyword Searching in Chemical Abstracts

By clicking the search button, you can open the word search window.

The Word Search window:

example word search window

Boolean operators in Word Search:

AND	retrieves records that have two or more search terms in the same record
OR	retrieves records that have either search term in the same record	Use OR when searching for synonyms ie. PAH or Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon
NOT	retrieves records that include the first term but not the second term	NOT may eliminate unwanted documents

Wild Cards or Truncation

?	adds exactly one character to your term at the location point of the wild card, e.g., BASE? may retrieve BASES or BASED; CH2??O2 may retrieve CH2BrO2 or CH2ClO2
*	adds 0 or more characters to the end of your term, e.g., ADSOR* may retrieve ADSORB, ADSORPTION, or ADSORBENTS	JACKSON* in the Author Name search field may retrieve authors named S.L. Jackson, W.B. Jackson

Last updated: January 16, 2008