• Using SciFinder Scholar
• To search by author name
• To search by research topic
• To search by chemical substance or reaction
• To search by document identifier
• To search by company name
• To browse tables of contents
• To customize preferences
• To combine or narrow search term sets
• To display your search results
• To select records
• To print your search results
• To save your search results
• To begin a new search
• For more help
• Additional hints

• SciFinder Scholar is available all hours the Library is open (1st Saturday of each month only till 3pm for scheduled maintenance).
• Go to the SciFinder Scholar workstation in the Reference Room (see a Reference Librarian for assistance).
• Select SciFinder Scholar on the computer's menu system.
• Click on Accept.
• Click on OK.
• Select type of search from Explore window: Chemical Substance or Reaction, Research Topic, Author Name, Document Identifier, or Company Name.

1. Click on Author Name and type last name.
2. (Optional) Type first name or first initial.
3. (Optional) Check "Look for alternate spelling of the last name" to find names similar to the author name
4. Click on OK.

   
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Note: To be comprehensive, search both the author's last name with first/middle initials, and the author's last name with first name.

1. Click on the Research Topic icon.
2. Click in the "I am interested in" box.
3. Enter a brief description using one or more keywords or phrases.
   • Include prepositions such as after, among, at, between, from, in, into, on, upon, and within.
   • Add synonyms in parenthesis following the related term.
   • Do not use the Boolean operators AND and OR if a preposition would be more exact. Use OR to signify either term or both terms. Use AND to signify both terms only.
   • Distribute modifiers among terms separated by OR (e.g. biological control or bio control).

Example: determination of antioxidants in vegetables

  
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1. Click on Chemical Structure.
2. Use Tool Palettes to draw your chemical structure. Use Structure Drawing Menu bar for other drawing features.
3. (Optional) Use Lock Out Substitution Tool or Lock Out Rings Tool to block substitution at a particular site.
4. (Optional) Use Template tools or Template menu to draw predefined structures.
5. Click on Get Substances.
6. Choose to retrieve substances where the structure is an exact match, related structure, or substructure.
7. Click on OK.

1. Click on Substance Identifier.
2. Enter up to 25 chemical names, synonyms, CAS Registry Numbers, each on a separate line.
3. Click on OK. Results give an approximate number of references.
4. (Optional) Click on Refine search

1. Click on Molecular Formula.
2. Enter molecular formula. If the formula is ambiguous to SciFinder, you will be requested to reenter it using upper and lower case letters for elements and spacing between elements.
3. Click on OK. Results give an approximate number of references for each substance.
4. (Optional) Click on Refine search.

• Click on Document Identifier.
• Enter up to 25 CA Abstract numbers, each on a separate line.
• Click on OK.

1. To find document references from a specific organization, first click the Company Name/Organization icon.
2. Enter the organization name of interest and click OK.
3. To see all the spelling variations of this name, click on the Analyze or Refine References button.
4. Click on the Analyze icon to create a histogram of all spelling variations and the number of times each variation occurs.
5. The resulting histogram shows the occurrence of each spelling variant present in the database. Note the number of different ways the name of your organization of interest has been spelled over the years.

     
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1. To see a list of articles in a recent issue of a journal of interest, click the Browse Table of Contents button.
2. To locate a specific journal in the list of more than 1,350 journal titles, go to Edit, Find on the menu bar. The Find Journal Title window is displayed. Enter the journal title. Click Find.
3. Select the journal by clicking in the circle. Click View. Note that you can only view one journal at a time.
4. To see details of a particular reference, click on the Microscope icon to the right of the reference.
5. The full record is displayed. Note the list of Citations provided at the end of the document reference.
6. You may also choose to view the contents of an earlier issue of this journal by clicking on Previous Issue. Previous issues go back to the first issue of the current year.

     
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Through the Preference Editor you can customize options each time you use SciFinder Scholar. 

Preference options include Display, Print, Explore, Drawing, Databases, Analyze, Other and Save As.  For example, you can use the Expore tab to exclude polymers or related kinds of substances in answer sets.  Or, you can use the Analyze tab to set limits for the Refine by Property feature.

  
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Records are automatically displayed in title format.

1. Place a check mark in the relevant Candidates set box.
2. Click on Get References.
3. If running a substance search, choose All references or Only the following types and select from Biological Study, Preparation, and Reactant.
4. If running a research topic search, click on Refine References to limit by author, publication type, language, or year.
5. Click on Microscope icon to view the complete record.
6. Or if you wish to view full text, SciFinder Scholar has the ChemPort^SM Connection option. If your organization has invoked this option, you can now retrieve the full text of patents and electronic journal articles to which your organization subscribes.  Click the Computer icon.

     
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1. Place a check mark in the selection box next to the document, substance, or reaction group references.
2. Select Print.
3. Select the desired record format:
   • Standard=citation
   • Summary=citation + abstract
   • Full=citation + abstract + Indexing
4. Type a Print Header.
5. Click on OK.

1. Insert a formatted disk into a floppy drive.
2. Select File > Save As.
3. Select a directory.
4. Select file type:
   • ASCII;
   • Rich Text Format (includes graphics);
   • QUOTED (specify delimiter);
   • TAGGED (requires tag definition file from citation management database);
   • ANSWER KEYS (used for Explore by Document Identifier function).
5. Click on OK.

1. Click on New Task.

1. Click on EXIT.

• Click on SciFinder Scholar Help.
• Contact the Reference staff.
• Visit the CAS SciFinder web site: http://www.cas.org/SCIFINDER/SCHOLAR/
• See our Database Search Tips for tips on conducting effective searches.

Truncation: SciFinder Scholar does not use truncation symbols. Terms are automatically truncated when entered

To copy a structure from its registry to a chemical substance or reaction drawing:

1. Run a chemical substance search and click on the Microscope icon or click on a linked Registry Number in the indexing section of a citation record.
2. Click and drag the mouse to highlight the Registry Number at the top of the Registry record.
3. Select EDIT > COPY or CTRL-C ("Copying substance to clipboard" will appear.)
4. Click on New Task.
5. Select Chemical Substance or Reaction.
6. Select Chemical Structure.
7. Select EDIT > PASTE or CTRL-V.

Analyze References: Permits the analysis of an answer set by one of several criteria, such as Author Name, CAS Registry Number, Journal Name, Company/Organization, Index Term, Language, etc. The results of the analysis  are displayed as a histogram. Histogram entries of interest may be selected to further refine the answer set.

Analyze Substructures: Permits the analysis of a substructure answer set by one of four criteria: Real-atom Attachments, Variable Group, R-group Composition, and Precision.

Preview Substructures: Provides an estimate of the number of answers in a substructure search, and permits analysis of a sample by Answers, Real-atom Attachments, Variable Group, and R-group Composition.