Environmental Chemistry

Use the THREE TIPS below to help you gather relevant peer-reviewed articles on your chemical contaminant.

TIP 1. Use these databases:

• SciFinder
• PubMed
• Web of Science
• Scopus
• Google Scholar

Obviously you know how to find Google Scholar, but to find the other databases use the link to Find Databases on Cline Library's Homepage:

TIP 2. Search the name of your contaminant (ibuprofen, Tris(2-chloroethyl) phosphate, or whatever you chose) or the type of contaminant (flame retardants, synthetic estrogen, etc.) along with words signifying what you want to find out about it such as:

• environmental impact
• remediation
• environmental remediation
• mitigation
• environmental mitigation
• bioaccumulation
• accumulation
• toxicity
• pollution
• "food chain" OR "food web"
• toxicology
• endocrine disruptors or endocrine disruption
• etc.

TIP 3. If you get too many results and you want to try to zero in on results that are especially relevant, then try either of these two strategies:

• Limit your results to review articles (if you are in a database that offers this option).
• Limit some or all of your keywords to the title field. This is not always a fruitful strategy but it is worth trying. See below for an example.