Engineering

Journal articles, patents, conference proceedings, technical reports, theses and dissertations: present original results of investigations reported by researchers (called primary sources).

Review articles, books, handbooks, encyclopedias, dictionaries: analyze, compile and facilitate access to information from primary sources (called secondary sources)

In-depth content: reports and analyses of original research conducted in the lab

Written by experts: professors, scientists with in-depth knowledge of the discipline

Formatted for journal's guidelines: title, author list, abstract, methodology, results, discussion, conclusion, references, suppporting information, graphics, tables

Peer-reviewed: manuscript is reviewed by a panel of experts in the field of research

• Locate background information using reviews and articles from encyclopedias
• Identify key researchers in the area
• Complete a list of publications for the author
• Be familiar with specific search techniques of the database
• Know the value and use of citations searching backward and forward in time
• Subscribe to the alert services provided by journals and databases

• Content: is it related to your topic? In what aspects?
• Authority: are the author's credentials known? Is the jouranl source scholarly?
• Date published: is the currency of information important for your inquiry?
• Availability: is the abstract, references,full text availalbe? How soon do you need this info?