If you want to know the time, you check a clock. If you want to know where Angola is you ask the atlas. If you want to know how to spell disestablishmentarianism you discuss it with the dictionary. And if you want to know how chemistry works you consult any number of texts including the CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics (kind of a chemist's dictionary), textbooks, or scientific journals. To get my facts straight I have been using a pile of textbooks (see above) that I have collected throughout my studies.
They are great for long standing facts, but to get the most up to date information chemists turn to peer reviewed journals. These are essentially magazines where chemists specifically, and scientists in general, publish their most recent research. This is where the science headlines come from. The journals can be very broad like the Journal of the American Chemical Society (loving referred to as JACS). Or they can be very specific like the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, which is also published by the American Chemical Society. To be published by one of these journals is a big deal for a chemist. It is proof that what you are doing is relevant, important, and correct. And for many being published that first time marks the transition between being a chemistry student and being a chemist.
From time to time I'll be turning to the front pages of these journals for inspiration. So be prepared, at times we are going to be on the cutting edge. And as always, I'll be figuring it out right along with you.
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