Service Alert
The Chemical Abstract Service (CAS) is a division of the American Chemical Society (ACS) that provides sources of chemical information. The CAS publishes Chemical Abstracts – an index of over 8000 chemical journals, reports, and proceedings – that it publishes through its database: SciFinder-n.
Chemical Abstracts is an index – but what is an index? Indexes collect general information about articles so a user can easily find results that fit their search from within a very wide body of research. Each entry in an index includes the abstract (a summary of what the article is about), the publishing information (what journal it’s in, the date, the author), and keywords and subject terms for the article. It will not necessarily have the actual text of the article.
To use SciFinder-n, you must register for an account. When you access SciFinder-n for the first time, you'll be prompted to enter your email and register an account. Use your Lake Forest College email, enter the verification code, and fill in the required information. After you create your account, SciFinder-n should remember you each time you access it.
Once in SciFinder-n, you can search Chemical Abstracts by selecting “References.” You are able to search for articles by entering a substance or molecule using its CAS registry number, by drawing the substance using the draw tool, or by using keywords.
SciFinder-n also offers the ability to search for substances, reactions, and patents as well as including additional features like citation mapping and a general thesaurus. For more on any of these, talk to your professor or reach out to a librarian.
