Library Guides: Materials Science and Engineering: Start Here!

Liaison Librarian

Tracy Bicknell-Holmes

she/her/hers

Email Me

Contact:

Albertsons Library
1865 W Cesar Chavez Lane

tracybicknell-holmes@boisestate.edu

208-426-4063

Quick Links

Top Recommended Databases

Periodical Articles and Conference Papers
New developments and current research are often first presented as conference papers and/or periodical articles. The following are indexes, abstracts or full-text repositories which access this literature:

Compendex and INSPEC (1896-current)
Both indexes are good sources for current and past research.

INSPEC covers over 4000 serials on topics in electrical engineering, physics, computers and control, and manufacturing. Although periodical articles and conference papers (1896-current) are the primary materials covered, some books, dissertations and reports are also included.

Compendex covers periodical articles and conference papers for all engineering disciplines, from 1969-current. Over 5000 serials are included.
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Compendex, INSPEC and GEOBASE are searched jointly on the Engineering Village Platform. To search only one of the databases, on the advanced search page, remove the check in the box to the left of the database you do not wish to search by clicking on the box. The check mark will be removed and that database will not be searched.

To limit to Reviews: Using the QuickSearch interface, options for limiting your search are below the search text boxes. First, uncheck the box on the left of GEOBASE. From the "Treatment Types" limit box, choose "General Review". If you then uncheck INSPEC (leaving only Compendex checked), an additional treatment type of "literature review" is available. If you uncheck Compendex so that only INSPEC is checked, INSPEC has an additional treatment type of "Bibliography" that might prove useful.

GEOBASE (1980-current) covers journal articles, conference papers, reports and books in geography, geology and ecology. Over 2000 journals are covered.

Compendex has a print version, ENGINEERING INDEX, (1959-2000), located at TA1 .E5.
SciFinder Scholar (1907-current)
The premier chemistry database, this index is especially useful if you are searching for specific substances. To access: Click on SciFinder Scholar, then enter your Broncoweb username and password. First time users will need to register; once registered use the click "here" link to get to the login screen. The information screen also has links to SciFinder Mobile.
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To limit to Reviews: On the Explore References search page, click the box to the left of "Review" in the Document Type(s) category (below the blue area that contains search text box).
Web of Science (1900-current)
This multi-disciplinary index includes article information from approximately 8,500 journals in sciences, engineering, social sciences, arts and humanities. A key feature of this index is the cited reference search, which searches for the articles that have cited a particular author’s work, or a specific article.
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To limit to Reviews: On one of the lines of paired boxes, choose "Document Type" from the drop-down menu on the right. This brings up selections in the box to the left; select "Review".
Google Scholar
Google Scholar helps researchers find scholarly information on the Internet. Google is working with several publishers to access their databases of publications, plus searching sites known to include scholarly literature. Results include journal articles, theses, books, preprints, technical reports, and other publications.
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The results may lead to the full-text of a resource, or to an abstract of a resource. Availability of the full-text of some sources is dependent on the institution’s access to that publisher’s material. Under Scholar Preferences you can enable the Boise State University Albertsons Library "Find it" link. The search engine also extracts citations from works cited in the resources indexed, leading to references that are not available full-text online.
IEEE Xplore
This repository contains full-text materials published by IEEE, the Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers, and IET, the Institution of Engineering and Technology. The IEEE/IET Electronic Library (IEL) includes full-text access to IEEE Society-sponsored transactions and conference proceedings, IEEE/Wiley books, IET proceedings journals, IET conference proceedings and IEEE Standards.
ScienceDirect (1997-current)
Contains full-text articles from over 1700 journals published by Elsevier. Although the content is multi-disciplinary, the primary focus is science, engineering and medicine. Table of contents information is available for publication years before 1997.

For product and industry news, try:

Applied Science and Technology Source (1983-current w/abstracts since 1994)
Best source for finding product reviews and news related (engineering) information. Indexes articles in 800 English-language periodicals.
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The print version, Applied Science and Technology Index, is available from 1958-2000 at TA 1 .I5, with an earlier title, Industrial Arts Index, available 1913-1957, with some missing issues.

EndNote This link opens in a new window
EndNote is an online citation management software that helps you track your information sources.

Biomedical Databases

Medline (1965-current)
This index is the largest, most comprehensive index covering biomedical topics, with an emphasis on clinical medicine. Journals covering optometry and dentistry are also included.
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The database is available from three vendors; PubMed has the same content as Medline, plus some newer material not yet indexed, and a few unique titles. To limit to Reviews: In the Ebsco version, check the "Review Articles" box in the limit search options below the text search box. In the FirstSearch version, in one of the lines of paired search boxes, type review in the left text box and from the drop-down menu in the right box, select "Article Type Phrase".
PubMed (1965-most current)
The scope and indexed content is the same as Medline. PubMed includes additional articles that have not yet been indexed. It is an openly available database created by the US National Library of Medicine.