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Library Resources for Research

Physics & Astronomy Databases

Scholarly Sources include articles, books, and other types of writings that have been written and published by experts in a particular field. Scholarly sources are often defined as having undergone the peer review process. Generally, the peer review process is an evaluation of an academic work (a submitted manuscript or preprint) done by other professionals (reviewers) in the same field. Many scholars consider an article trustworthy once it has been peer-reviewed; when crafting a bibliography for a course assignment, it is often expected that most sources be peer-reviewed, and some professors require this for all sources (ask your professor!).

Scholarly sources can be found in journals, academic databases, and online search engines. Below is a short list of databases you can use when searching for articles in Physics & Astronomy. 

Interdisciplinary Databases

Physics Databases

Astronomy & Astrophysics Databases

General Science Databases

Finding Journals

What is Grey Literature?

Grey literature sometimes refers to documents that are not published commercially or not readily accessible via library databases. 

These documents may include conference papers or proceedings, theses or dissertations, handbooks, codes of safety data, clinical trials, government documents, etc. 

Grey literature search tips:

  • Identify the important professional societies in your discipline, and search their websites for publications or report series.
  • Examine the "works cited" section of influential published books and articles on your topic.
  • Use a web browser such as Google to search for "grey literature in engineering" or "grey literature in economics" (or whatever your discipline is).
  • Consult your librarian.

Looking for handbooks and encyclopedias? Go to the Background Information page. Looking for datasets? Go to Quantitative & Qualitative Analysis!

Dissertations

Dissertations Written by OU Students

  • Visit OU Libraries Discover/Local Catalog
    • Search by author or title.
    • Online full text access to doctoral dissertations (Masters' theses are not available electronically).
    • Print copies can be checked out (shelved by author's last name in the Great Reading Room, with overflow into the nearby Decks).
  • SHAREOK Repository https://shareok.org/
    • Joint repository of digital items for OU and OSU
    • Since 2014, OU dissertations have been deposited there so that they are freely available
    • Items can be found through a Google (or other search engine) search.

Dissertations & Theses from Other Universities

  • ProQuest Dissertations & Theses – Formerly known as Dissertation Abstracts. Provides full text access 1997-present to most dissertations from U.S. institutions. Provides indexing information to dissertations 1861 - present. Many universities, including OU, no longer submit the full text of their dissertations in this database. Instead, they post their dissertations in an institutional repository (at OU, this is SHAREOK). If the dissertation is not available electronically, you can order through interlibrary loan.
  • DART-Europe E-theses Portal – Dissertations from European universities
  • UK Theses

Professional Societies in Physics

To find grey literature, identify professional societies in your discipline and use a web browser such as Google to search their web sites for publications or report series or search for "grey literature" plus your discipline. The list below is non-exhaustive and adapted from Gonzaga University. Want to recommend an addition to the list? Email libstem@ou.edu.

  • American Astronomical Society
  • American Indian Science and Engineering Society
  • American Institute of Physics
  • American Physical Society
  • Institute of Physics
  • International Astronomical Union
  • National Society of Black Physicists
  • National Society of Hispanic Physicists
  • Society of Asian Scientists and Engineers
  • Society of Physics Students

Physics Government Documents

Federal Resources

International Resources

State Resources

Questions? Reach out to OU Government Documents Librarian Jeffrey Wilhite.

Patent Searching

Business Information

Popular Treatments of Physics

What are Popular Works? 

Popular works consist of publications that do not undergo the same vetting process as a scholarly source (i.e. peer review).

Newspapers and magazines are considered popular works – check out OU Libraries Newspapers & Magazines guide, and our Popular Magazines guide to learn what you have access to. 

Popular works are more timely, but still require some measure of evaluation before using it for assignments. Visit the News Literacy research guide for information on identifying fake news, teaching news literacy, and resources for fact-checking.

Know of a good popular work? Send us your recommendations: libstem@ou.edu

News

Podcasts

Videos

The Library's Role Is Providing Access

Databases are searching tools designed to help researchers find information. Check out OU Libraries' What are Databases? handout to learn more.

OU Libraries subscribe to both databases (paying for the indexing that the databases do) and to publications (paying for full text access). In the age of the internet, there are many ways to publish information; as such, the library connects you to many different types of resources. Don't hesitate to reach out to the Research Help Desk or the STEM Services team for assistance.

Struggling to find the full text of an item? Look for the OU Link to Article button in the database or try searching the library catalog. Check out OU Libraries' Finding Full Text guide. You can also try the interactive tutorial, Access Full Text. If we don't have a resource available here, often another library has it and is willing to send us a copy via Interlibrary Loan. The Lean Library browser extension can make accessing full text easier and will even direct you to Interlibrary Loan where needed.

OU Libraries Handouts