Articles

Article databases let you search the contents of scholarly journals, magazines, and newspapers. Because of the huge number of articles published every year, most databases cover specific subjects. The databases in UW-Madison's Database Library are chosen by librarians specializing in specific areas of research. These databases allow researchers to quickly find relevant articles. Additionally, many databases link to or include the full text of articles.

Scholarly Journal Articles

Also known as peer-reviewed articles, scholarly articles have been read, analyzed and published by a selected panel of recognized experts. As a result, scholarly articles generally contain reliable, highly technical information. Learn how to identify a scholarly article in the guide to popular magazines versus scholarly journals. You can find specific journals on the campus e-journal list

Trade Magazine Articles

Trade magazines are published for and read by members of a particular trade group, such as chemical engineers. In contrast to journal articles, trade magazine articles often follow recent trends in industry or individual companies and less frequently publish original research. We have a list of databases specializing in trade journals to help you get started.

Books

On Campus

Use MadCat to find books available at UW-Madison and within the UW-System. MadCat contains electronic books as well as paper copies. Look for the location and call number of a book towards the bottom of the result page. This information tells you which library on campus has the book, if it is already checked out, and when it’s due.

If a book is checked out, you can recall it and receive it within 14 days. You can also use MadCat to have a book delivered to any campus library using Book Retrieval

Off Campus

If MadCat does not have the book, use Article & Book Delivery. First try finding the book in either of these resources:

WorldCat

WorldCat is the largest library database in the world. It contains collection information for over 1 Billion items from over 10,000 libraries.

Amazon

Amazon is the world's largest online retailer.

Once you have located the book you want to request. Record the ISBN, Title and Author information. Login to Article & Book Delivery and enter the data to request the book.

Conference Proceedings

Conference proceedings and papers can be difficult to find. Conference material is often published in different ways: a one-time publication, a serial publication, or as special issues within a journal. Sometimes only the abstract is formally published and the paper can only be obtained by contacting the author or sponsoring society directly to request a copy.

There are three ways to locate conference material:

• MadCat
• Database
• Online collections

MadCat

Search MadCat for conference series.

Example	Enter in "Words Anywhere"
Proceedings of SPIE v. 2223	spie 2223

Databases

Compendex and Inspec (both available via Engineering Village) are the best electronic databases to search for Engineering conference material. If you are having trouble using Engineering Village, give Google Scholar a try.

Online collecations

Several online conference collections exist:

• ACM Digital Library
• ASCE Civil Engineering Database
• IEEE Xplore
• MRS Proceedings Library
• SAE Digital Library
• SPIE Digital Library - Astronomy and Astronomical Optics

Business Information

Trade magazines contain information about engineering and business for the working professional in engineering fields. For example, the magazine Automotive Production and Design provides state of the art information for automotive engineers. You may even find advertisements that give you useful design ideas. ABI Inform from the American Business Institute contains full text articles from trade magazines and also from magazines such as Forbes and Business Week.

International information is increasingly important to engineers. You can find international and country information for your projects. You'll find a useful set of resources in the International Business research guide.

Company overviews, financial reports, industry reports, product information and even CAD drawings can be found in company databases. You may want to contact a company to when you're working on a design project.

Citation Management Software

Citation managers like RefWorks or EndNote are software applications that will help you…

• Format bibliographies and citations automatically while you research
• Create an online personal research database of references, images and PDFs
• Share your citations with colleagues around the world

The UW-Madison Libraries support a number of different research citation management applications with online help guides, workshops, and personal assistance.

Dissertations & Theses

Dissertations from UW - Madison

• The Dissertations and Theses (formerly Proquest Digital Dissertations) is the best place to find U.S. dissertations. You can find full text copies of UW-Madison dissertations from 1997 to the present.
• For older UW - Madison dissertations, search MadCat.
• See this helpful page for finding UW dissertations and theses.
• Need a masters' thesis in Engineering? Most are at Memorial Library and are in listed in MadCat. The exceptions are bachelors theses and master degree project reports

Dissertations from other universities

• Full text dissertations from CIC schools from 1997 to the present are in the Dissertations and Theses database.
• 24 page previews of dissertations from other schools (1997 – current) are in Dissertations and Theses.
• Use Article & Book Delivery to borrow dissertations from other universities. Sometimes it is not possible to obtain a copy through Interlibrary Loan. When this happens, you can buy a copy through the Dissertations and Theses database, or contact the author.
• Confused? See this handy chart of Dissertation Database Options.
  

Patents

A patent is a grant of property right by the government to an inventor. This right prevents others from making, using, or selling an invention for a period of 20 years from the application date. Utility patents protect inventions for processes, machines, manufactured items and chemical compositions. Design patents protect the appearance of an item, and plant patents protect asexually reproduced plant varieties.

Patents are excellent sources of technical information because the inventor must fully disclose how the invention works. All U.S. patents and some applications are publicly available online.

Property Data

The Chemistry Library has created an excellent Guide to Physical & Chemical Properties that will help you find material property data in campus libraries and online.

Before searching, it is helpful to create a list of related chemical and property names, formulas, and registry numbers.

After exhausting the databases listed here, try searching the journal, conference, dissertation and technical report literature.

Standards

Wendt Library provides access to over 12,000 codes, standards and specifications.

• Check MadCat for standards owned by UW - Madison. (ASTM, IEEE and SAE standards are not cataloged in MadCat. Go to their online databases).
• Find paper standards at Wendt on the 2nd floor of the library near the main desk.
• Search using the database IHS Standards Expert for known standards or to find worldwide standards on a particular subject.
• Request standards for purchase: Wendt Library will purchase most standards requested by UW faculty, staff, and students for use in instruction or research.
• Not affiliated with UW-Madison? Purchase standards directly from TechStreet, NSSN, or the ANSI Standards Store.
• Wendt provides the following standards in full text:
  • ASTM standards
  • IEEE standards
  • ASSIST Quicksearch (Military standards)
  • SAE J standards (Automotive)

Technical Reports

Technical reports publish the results of federally funded research performed by companies, universities and government laboratories. Most technical reports housed in the Wendt Library Technical Report Center were written under contract to U.S. government agencies.

• Finding technical reports can be a challenge. If you’re having trouble, contact us and we’ll help you out.
• Check MadCat first – it will give an exact call number location for many of our reports, or links to online reports. Don’t give up if you don’t find the report in MadCat – we have many reports on the shelves that are not listed in MadCat.
• Search the NTIS database (NTIS) to find technical reports on a topic or to get report details for a known item. Make a note of all numbers found.
• Search other specialized report databases. Many have full text online from recent years.
• Check the shelves in the 3rd floor stacks and the microfiche cabinets toward the back of the floor for any report number you have.