American Chemical Society
Teaching Chemical Information:
Tips and Techniques
— August 1998 —
Print v. Electronic — Which to teach?
Why teach both?
- Need to know some basics about the printed
product to use the electronic product well
- Some print tools strongly influence their electronic counterparts
- Chemical Abstracts — abbreviations, inverted subject headings
- Science Citation Index — citations by first author only
- Some print tools strongly influence their electronic counterparts
- Length of coverage differs for print v. electronic
- Only the print version may be available
- Do not teach what you do not own
- Exception: for graduate students and upper-division undergraduates, you may want to at least mention tools which they will find elsewhere
Points Worth Pondering
- Ease of learning, ease of use
- Some print tools are easy to use and their electronic counterparts difficult (or expensive)
- Start with the quickest, easiest tools and build up to the more difficult but more powerful
- Complementarity
- Some print tools have different coverage than their electronic counterparts
- Chronological range — usually print goes back farther
- Currency of information — usually, electronic has the edge, but not always with CD-ROM
- Downsides of online
- Online searching is fast, but must learn search techniques first
- Must evaluate the results carefully
- How many answers are optimal
- Have all the important references been found
- Information is never cheap — on some online systems mistakes can be expensive