MATH, COMPUTER SCIENCE, AND NATURAL SCIENCES RESEARCH GUIDE

Quick Find

REFERENCE

Printed Sources

The following is a list of major reference sources available in the Reference Room:

  • Berry, John. Dictionary of Mathematics. London: Fitzroy Dearborn, 1999.
    Ref QA5.B22
  • Considine, Glenn D., ed. Van Nostrand’s Scientific Encyclopedia. 9th ed. New York: Wiley-Interscience, 2002.
    Ref Q121.V269
  • Dow, Kirstin, and Thomas E. Downing. The Atlas of Climate Change: Mapping the World's Greatest Challenge. Rev. and updated ed. London: Earthscan, 2007.
    Ref QC981.8.C5D69
  • Henderson, Paul, and Gideon M Henderson. The Cambridge Handbook of Earth Science Data. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2009.
    Ref QE26.3.H45
  • Hine, Robert, ed. The Facts on File Dictionary of Biology. 3rd ed. New York: Facts on File, 1999.
    Ref QH302.5.F38
  • Narins, Brigham, ed. World of Computer Science. Detroit: Gale-Thompson, 2002.
    Ref QA76.15.W67
  • Newton-Smith, W.H., ed. A Companion to the Philosophy of Science. Malden, Mass.: Blackwell, 2000.
    Ref Q175.3C65
  • Norman, Jeremy M., ed. From Gutenberg to the Internet: A Sourcebook on the History of Information Technology.  Edited by Jeremy M. Norman. Novato, CA: Historyofscience.com, 2005.
    Ref T58.5.N55
  • Post, Stephen Garrard, ed. Encyclopedia of Bioethics.  Edited by Stephen Garrard Post. 3rd ed. New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 2004.
    Ref QH332.E52
  • Reilly, Edwin D., ed. Concise Encyclopedia of Computer Science. Chichester: Wiley, 2004.
    Ref QA76.15.C654
  • Schlager, Neil, ed. Science and its Times: Understanding the Social Significance of Scientific Discovery. Detroit: Gale Group, 2001.
    Ref Q175.46.S35
  • Science Encyclopedia. London: DK Publishing, 1998.
    Ref Q121.S354

On-line Sources

Here you may find a list of pertinent on-line reference resources.

  • Oxford Reference Online contains dictionaries and other quick reference sources, including quotations, maps, timelines, and illustrations. It also contains subject specific sources, such as A Dictionary of Biology, A Dictionary of Ecology, A Dictionary of the Internet, and The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Mathematics.

    Note: the links mentioned above work only when you are on-campus. To use these resources from off-campus, start from the databases webpage

BOOK SEARCHING

Most of the books on science (general) can be found on the shelves under section Q, according to the Library of Congress Classification System. In particular, books on mathematics are gathered under QA, books on physics under QC, books on chemistry under QD, and books on natural history and biology under QH. Section R is devoted to every aspect of medicine and books on technology may be found in section T.

Books combining science with other topics can be found under the specific section of those topics (e.g., philosophy and science under B, business and finance, and mathematics under HF and HG, mathematics and statistics under HA).

The Library catalog allows different kind of searches, including Subject Keyword and Subject Browse. A Subject Keyword search will retrieve all the subject strings containing the word you searched for. A Subject Browse search will lead to the controlled subject headings list. Determining which "controlled" subject headings are established for aspects of a topic is an important step in finding relevant material. You may want to browse on the broader subject (e.g. science) to find out what's available in the Library.

Some examples of official subject headings and heading patterns are listed below:

 

JOURNALS

The library subscribes to two printed journals in this field: New Scientist and Scientific American (both also available on-line on Academic Search Complete and Lexis-Nexis).

A large collection of electronic journals is available through library databases such as JSTOR, EBSCO (Academic Search Premier, Business Source Premier), and LEXIS-NEXIS.

Full-Text Journals

Here is a sample of the most important full-text titles, directly accessible through Journals, A to Z:

On-Line Journals

The following journals are freely accessible through the Web:

Last updated: 8-9-2009