Peer Review

Chemistry Guide

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Overall Rating:

Content Quality:

Effectiveness:

Ease of Use:

Overview:: The material is a website that features a collection information from 250 different chemical databases. Databases range from organic chemistry problems to job searches in the chemical sciences (both academia and industry).
Type of Material:: This is a collection of databases.
Recommended Uses:: Recommended uses would be for self-directed study, enrichment and for research purposes. The website is mostly reference materials.
Technical Requirements:: None.
Identify Major Learning Goals:: The material is a collection designed for research purposes. Its main goal is to act as a filter and minimize the clutter often encountered when doing internet searches for various topics.
Target Student Population:: Professional chemists and some research chemistry students will use this site.
Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:: There is no pre-requisite knowledge required other than the ability to conduct an internet search. The course subject matter may be applicable to students using the reference material to research a particular topic from class. General chemistry, analytical chemistry and organic chemistry links are available.

Rating:
Strengths:: This is a VERY complete set of databases for the chemistry community.
Concerns:: There are some broken links: Under "Top 10" Chemjobs link does not work Under "Biochemistry" the "Metabolic pathways of Biochemistry" link does not work Under the "Polymer" link, the "Polymer Chemistry (tutorials) link does not work Under the Physical Chemistry link, "The Second Law of Thermodynamics" link does not work Under "General Chemistry", the "Chemsoc" link is a link to a satellite television carrier Under "Combinatorial Chemistry" the Japan Combinatorial Chemistry Focus Group link is to an unknown domain Under "Combinatorial Chemistry" two links are redundant, combichem and European Society of Combinatorial Sciences have the same link Under "Chemistry Blogs". the Triple Point link is broken Under "Chemical Literature" the link to "Directory of Open Access Journals" is broken Under "Chemical Literature" the link to "Chemrefer" is in Japanese Under "Chemical Literature" the link to "Bielstein" is broken Under "Chemical Dictionaries" the link to "Chemical Safety Information-Glossary" is no longer located in the destination Under "Chemical Databases" the link to "Chemsink" gave a security warning

Rating:
Strengths:: The collection has some very interesting links. In particular, the "History of Chemistry" section, the "Chemistry Encyclopedias" and the "Chemical Education sections have some fascinating links to websites that will provide a wealth of knowledge to students. This item can be used in multiples ways in the classroom and is a great place to start for a student that is investigating a research topic, looking for a project for a science fair or class or just wanting to get information.
Concerns:: None.

Rating:
Strengths:: The list is clearly laid out on the page and it is relatively easy to navigate through the list to the desired database.
Concerns:: It would be helpful if a mouse over a link provided a brief description of the kinds of material available.

Other Issues and Comments:: I think that this is a noble undertaking. Some of the links are redundant and some are simply links to ACS journals. There are some remarkable links and there are some that are common which makes this material, overall, very good. The problems with the broken links should be addressed.
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