Spence School Library: Advanced Physics: Science News, Magazines, and Reference Materials

Background Research and Magazines

Spence Subscriptions (Log-in required when at home)

Britannica School This link opens in a new window
The online provides access to articles, photographs, maps and links to related Web sites, as well as to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the world atlas, a timeline and Britannica’s annual “Year in Review.”
NOVELNY databases are provided free to the public by the New York State Library. The databases can only be accessed within the geographical boundaries of New York State. When logging in you will see a NOVELNY screen requesting your location information. If you are in New York State, you can proceed to the database by selecting the "Use My Location" button or waiting five seconds.
Science in Context This link opens in a new window
This resource offers extensive information for many scientific disciplines, coming the form of topic overviews, biographies, periodical articles from Science Weekly, Science News and The Science Teacher.

Science News
"Magazine of the society for science and the public" To access full text email Ms. Kane for the log-in information or use the ProQuest Complete database.

Open Access Science News Sites

Quanta Magazine
"Quanta Magazine is an editorially independent online publication launched by the Simons Foundation to enhance public understanding of science."
Science Daily News
"Updated several times a day with news and feature articles, the site covers discoveries in all fields of the physical, biological, earth and applied sciences."
Physics and Astronomy Online
A physics and astronomy online education, research and reference web site.
Physics World
"The member magazine of the Institute of Physics."
Science Daily
Updated several times a day. Introductory articles to topics.

Organizations

American Physical Society
The American Physical Society (APS) works "to advance the knowledge of physics." Tons of information regarding Physics education.
Nasa Technical Reports
"NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS) provides access to aerospace-related citations, full-text online documents, and images and videos. The types of information include: conference papers, journal articles, meeting papers, patents, research reports, images, movies, and technical videos – scientific and technical information (STI) created or funded by NASA."
Joint Quantum Institute
Pursuing the goal to lead "a new technological revolution as the strange and unique properties of quantum physics become relevant and exploitable in the context of information science and technology."
The LIGO Scientific Collaboration (LSC)
"The LIGO Scientific Collaboration (LSC) is a group of scientists seeking to make the first direct detection of gravitational waves, use them to explore the fundamental physics of gravity, and develop the emerging field of gravitational wave science as a tool of astronomical discovery."
American Mathematical Society (AMS)
Access to news and publications from the AMS.

Theories of Everything, Mapped

A great starting point for discovering topics!!

https://www.quantamagazine.org/20150803-physics-theories-map/

Evaluation

The content and links on this guide have all been evaluated by Ms. Kane. When using link-outs from these sources or results from a Google Search be sure to evaluate the source before using it.

Evaluating Domains

Domain Credibility*

The following top-level domains (TLD) can give you an idea of how reliable and accurate the information may be:

.com: The most popular worldwide, originally used by commercial entities, now a de facto standard on the Internet. Reliability and credibility not always guaranteed.
.edu: Only schools, colleges, universities and other educational institutions can use this TLD, often indicating a reliable source of information. Watch out for websites created by students for research projects.
.gov: Only government organizations may use this TLD. Guaranteed to be both accurate and credible.
.org: Originally reserved for non-profit organizations (NPO) or non-government organizations (NGO), this TLD can be used by commercial entities. Most .org have an objective, watch out for points of bias.
.net: Primarily used by internet service providers. Mostly contain unreliable information.
Country codes, such as .us, .uk. and .de, are no longer tightly controlled and may be misused. Look at the country code, but also use the techniques in sections 2 and 4 below to see who published the web page.

Source: Boundless. “Evaluating Internet Material.” Boundless Communications. Boundless, 20 Jan. 2015. Retrieved 09 Mar. 2015 from https://www.boundless.com/communications/textbooks/boundless-communications-textbook