Writing reference library

You need to take a long-term view if you wish to improve your writing skills. An essential preliminary is to invest in and make full use of a personal reference library (see Box 50.2). 

Box 50.2 Improve your writing ability by consulting a personal reference library... 

Endocrinology is widely covered in the Cochrane Library. At the time of writing no less than 34 systematic reviews with diabetes, 8 with thyroid, 3 with pituitary and 24 with contraception in the record title were available in the Cochrane database. Of course space does not permit to refer to all these particular reviews individually. However, the indications given and the treatments which are recommended rely as far as possible on evidence-based data as covered by the Cochrane Collaboration Reviews. 

All library references (books, journal articles, and Web sites) that were used to write up the experiment should be listed at the end. The standard format to follow for a reference listing is shown at the end of this chapter in the reference section. 

Finally, I acknowledge and thank Pierce Chemical Company for its support. They have provided much-needed computer and library resources, without which this book would have been much more difficult to write. However, Pierce Chemical Company has not reviewed the text of this book for accuracy or completeness and does not endorse its technical content nor its references to other companies as sources for reagents and materials. 

Such an assignment would give the literature chemist basic instruction in literature searching and reference sources. It would familiarize him with company files and library resources, and with the individuals responsible for them. It would acquaint him with one aspect of the use of machines in documentation, particularly in relation to Ethyl data and practices. Finally, the assignment would familiarize him with and give him practice in Ethyl requirements for report writing and document duplication. 

Introduction This is a big piece of writing that can be very time-consuming. Therefore, the more work you can do on it early on, the better. You should allocate some time at the start for library work (without neglecting benchwork), so that you can build up a database of references (p. 319). While photocopying can be expensive, you will find it valuable to have copies of key reviews and references handy when writing away from the library. Discuss proposals for content and structure with your supervisor to make sure your effort is relevant. Leave space at the end for a section on aims and objectives. This is important to orientate readers (including assessors), but you may prefer to finalize the content after the results have been analysed ... 

Another important source of information is Knovel. Knovel provides online access to most standard reference books. It is a subscription service but can be accessed through many libraries, including those of the professional engineering institutions and some universities. At the time of writing, Knovel is available free to members of the AIChE and IChemE. In addition to having many reference books in. pdf format, Knovel has interactive graphs and lookup tables for books such as Perry s Chemical Engineers Handbook and the International Critical Tables. 

The ready availability of suflScient and suitable source material is a very important requirement. While some industrial libraries have available on their shelves only the abstract journals and the main reference sources and rely on public and other outside libraries for other publications, using outside sources would be very costly in time of personnel. Typing facilities are not readily available at most public libraries and it thus becomes necessary to write in longhand the data required furthermore, on checking the information later, it may be necessary to make another trip to the library to supplement the data first obtained. Consequently, it has been the aim to have available in the Texaco libraries not only all the main abstract journals, American, British, French, and German, reference works and encyclopedias, but also practically all texts relating to Texaco s particular fields of interest. 

So spectrum interpretation or library searching may be frustrated unless SERS reference spectra are available. Fourth, a practical substrate for routine analysis should be available commercially and have a long shelf life. At this writing, all SERS substrates are prepared by individual labs, usually immediately before use. The world needs a stable, reproducible, and probably disposable SERS substrate in commercial quantities, but so far none of the various substrates... 

Another equally well illustrated history is by Historicus 1892 (36), with reprints from early works of the seventeenth century. The work of Historicus was sponsored by the great English firm of Cadbury and, aside from being filled with valuable excerpts from many early works, seems to be the first to introduce to cacao literature colored reprints of the Mexican picture writings relating to the subject. Unfortunately, this work as well as most of the early references are out of print and available only in a few large libraries and private collections. 

John Cremer, a fourteenth-century abbot who lived in Westminster, was reputed to have joined Raymond Lully in alchemical works in Westminster Abbey and the Tower of London. Thomas Norton, author of the Ordinall of Akhimy, began writing this famous work in 1477. The reputed Basil Valentine is mentioned later in our Chemical History Tour and also by Read. Vulcan is the god of fire. Arms of Vulcan refers to fire as an instrument of chemical change. The picture depicts an immediate proximity between a chemical laboratory and a chemical library—the duality of practice and theory. Although the American Chemical Society recommends location of a university chemical research library in the chemistry laboratory building, it is unlikely that they have quite this closeness in mind. 

Call an alumnus of your university who is in the field that interests you. Although you may not know him or her, you both share the common experience of attending the same university. Most alumni are willing to help recent graduates. Write a letter to the senior-level person you would like to meet. Refer to industry directories, either in the library or on the Internet, for names, titles, addresses, and phone numbers. Be sure to call the company to make sure the person still works there and to find out if his or her title has changed. Your... 

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