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AstroStats

Getting Started

For this project, you'll do most of your research in The Astrophysics Data System.

Description from their page:

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 through the new ADS modern search form as well as a classic search form. A browsable paper form is also available.

Optional research method

The best research method is the one that works for you, as long as you abide by good information literacy practices. Here is one potential research method for this project:

  1. Enter your search terms in the ADS. Consider how their search syntax can help narrow/expand your results.
  2. Evaluate results for relevancy. Look at title, abstract, data/images, and date (is it current enough?)
    1. If you are keeping a Research Log, fill it out with these results and your terms
  3. Save any relevant articles to Zotero or your chosen bookmark/citation manager. (Consider making specific subcollections in Zotero to help yourself stay organized [The Zotero browser button will save items to whichever subcollection is highlighted in your desktop application).
  4. Look at the citations in one of your chose articles. These are listed in both the ADS and Web of Science (Web of Science often lists more articles - try both resources!). Both of these platforms also show papers that have cited the article. Examine both the cit-ed and the cit-ing articles for relevancy, using the same methods listed in point #2. 
  5. Use your research log and your relevant articles to pick out more specific keywords and subjects to add to your search terms. 
  6. Want more guidance? Email us at library@olin.edu!

Other Resources

Peer Reviewed Journal Articles + Conference Papers

Full Text Subscription Research Databases

Full Text Open Access Research Databases

Bibliographic Subscription Index Databases

Bibliographic Freely Available Index Search Engines

Other Databases

See other databases available to you on the A to Z Database List.

You can also search across all of our subscriptions using OlinScholar, which searches across almost everything listed in the A to Z database. (Note that the ADS is not included in OlinScholar)