Great Places To Look For Ideas!
TED talks are a fantastic way to get seminar research ideas!
Science In the News - from NPR ("SciFriday" with Ira Flatow) is an amazing resource of tons of interesting bits about all aspects of science, including physics!
"Spotlighting Exceptional Research" is the tagline for this all-physics resource.
Citing for Physics
When looking at how physicists cite things, you'll frequently see references to AIP. This citation format style refers to the style created by the American Institute of Physics. AIP is the most commonly used format within the discipline of physics.
AIP is a numbered style, and as such references are numbered in the order in which they appeared in the actal article, and are listed in that exact same order at the end in the works cited section. (Other citation styles are non-numbered, and instead alphabetize all of the references used within a research paper.)
The AIP Style Manual is available for free PDF download from the official American Institute of Physics website. Fourth edition.
Monash University in Oregon has a fantastic guide about how to properly cite things in AIP style, including always-helpful examples.
Another extremely helpful resource when working on your reference list is available via the American Institute of Physics - a list of common journal title abbreviations, as they can sometimes be extremely confusing!
Journal Articles
Research isn't just something that happens in the lab. It also happens when you sit down in front of a computer and do your literature searches to find out who else has been researching similar topics to yours, and what they have discovered.
We have a plethora of search engines/databases that we pay fantastical amounts of money to access so that you can find the best that is out there. Take advantage of our purchasing this access for you and use the built-in academic functionality of these databases!
Academic Search Complete (This multi-disciplinary database provides more than 8,500 full-text periodicals, including more than 7,300 peer-reviewed journals.)
JSTOR (Collections for Arts & Sciences I, II, III, IV, VII, Business I, Ecology & Biology I, and Life Sciences)
ScienceDirect (Full-text scientific database on physical sciences and engineering, life sciences, health sciences, and social sciences and humanities.)
Web of Science (Citations on science, technology, social sciences and arts & humanities.)
PROLA (Physical Review Online Archive) - direct from the American Physics Society (& therefore not Library-paid access) this allows you to search Physical Review Letters, Physical Review, & Reviews of Modern Physics.
