Get started researching your topic by selecting an appropriate database. There are many different kinds of databases out there, but you're looking for an index-type resource, that covers the literature of a field across all publishers and formats.
There are many to choose from across all subjects. For Physics, here are some good places to start:
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Created by Paul Ginsparg at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico and launched in 1991, arXiv.org (formerly xxx.lanl.gov) is a fully automated electronic archive and distribution server for research papers. Areas covered include physics and related disciplines, mathematics, nonlinear sciences, computational linguistics, and neuroscience.
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Updated weekly. Indexes the research literature of physics; electrical engineering and electronics; & computers and control. Offers over 15 million records and strong international coverage. The archive portion, which was formerly separate, is now integrated with the current file.
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The ADS maintains three bibliographic collections containing more than 15 million records covering publications in astronomy and astrophysics, physics, and general science, including all arXiv e-prints. Abstracts and full-text of major astronomy and physics publications are indexed and searchable. To access full text of UT’s subscribed content, register for a user account and choose UT Austin from the list of institutions.
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Updated weekly. The Web of Science Core Collection is a group of databases (Science Citation Index Expanded, 1900-present; Social Sciences Citation Index, 1900-present; Arts & Humanities Citation Index, 1975-present) that together cover more than 21,000 journals across all disciplines. The Emerging Sources Citation Index (2005-present) tracks thousands of additional journals that are being considered for inclusion in the main citation indexes. Other files track references from conference proceedings (1990-present) and citations to books (2005-present).
The Web of Science platform currently also provides temporary access to several databases that are not part of the Core Collection, including Biosis Citation Index, Data Citation Index, and Zoological Record.
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Google Scholar uses the popular Google search engine to enable searches for scholarly materials such as peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, preprints, abstracts and technical reports from broad areas of research. It includes a variety of academic publishers, professional societies, preprint repositories and universities, as well as scholarly articles available across the web. Google Scholar includes full text and citations.
Use this link to access Google Scholar, and see our Google Scholar Guide for information on using this resource.
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Updated regularly. Provides bibliographic and full text access to the Department of Energy (DOE) research and development reports in physics, chemistry, materials, biology, environmental sciences, energy technologies, engineering, computer and information science, renewable energy, and other topics.
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Updated daily. Provides integrated access to the Chemical Abstracts suite of databases with millions of bibliographic records covering the worldwide chemical literature, including patents; as well as over 100 million substance records, with chemical structures, names, synonyms, and associated property data; plus millions of searchable organic reactions. Search by topic, author, chemical identification terms (names, formulas, Registry Numbers), and chemical structures.
Finding journals in the PMA Library
Legacy print journals are shelved on the second level, in alphabetical order by exact title. Many older journals are kept in remote storage facilities - check the Library Catalog for exact locations. With very few exceptions, the library stopped receiving print versions of scientific journals long ago.
Browzine - Browzine allows for easy access to the journals we subscribe to - just create an account with your UT email and you can start using it to organize journal lists.
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Provides full-text articles from scholarly journals and conference proceedings published by the American Institute of Physics (AIP). AIP Publishing’s portfolio comprises 19 highly regarded, peer-reviewed journals, including the flagship journals Applied Physics Letters, Journal of Applied Physics, and The Journal of Chemical Physics, in addition to the AIP Conference Proceedings.
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Provides access to the full text of scholarly journals published by the American Physical Society (APS). Titles include Physical Review, sections A-E; Physical Review Letters; Review of Modern Physics; Physical Review Special Topics - Accelerators & Beams; various journals in the "Virtual Journals in Science and Technology" series; and free publications APS News and Physical Review Focus.
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Updated weekly. Provides full text access to the journals published by the Institute of Physics.
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Updated weekly. Provides full text access to journals published by the American Chemical Society.
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Updated monthly. Contains more than 2 million doctoral dissertations and master's theses. Provides full text for many dissertations and theses, including most done after 1997. All subject areas are covered. The database includes more than 90 percent of the doctoral dissertations accepted each year in North America with selective coverage for other parts of the world. Each dissertation published since July 1980 includes a 350-word abstract written by the author. Master's theses published since 1988 include 150-word abstracts. Only bibliographic citations are available for earlier years. More than 55,000 new citations are added to the database every year. Many dissertations from The University of Texas at Austin are included in the database, though theses from the University are only rarely included.
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OATD.org aims to be the best possible resource for finding open access graduate theses and dissertations published around the world. Metadata (information about the theses) comes from over 1100 colleges, universities, and research institutions. OATD currently indexes 3,452,088 theses and dissertations.
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