Library Guides: Civil Engineering: Engineering Literature

Journal and Conference Articles

Journal and conference articles are the primary venue engineers use to disseminate scholarly research. Although no one database provides a master list to all of this literature, each of the following databases indexes a key segment of STEM literature. The top few listed are likely to be of use to any engineering research topic. Others may be of interest for only specific topics. Many of the articles can be accessed electronically, usually by following the FindText link. Items not owned by the library can be ordered through Inter-Library Loan (ILL).

Compendex This link opens in a new window
Database of scientific and technical engineering research covering all engineering disciplines.
Inspec This link opens in a new window
Database providing bibliographic citations and abstracts of the scientific and technical literature in physics, electrical engineering, electronics, communications, control engineering, computers and computing and information technology. Material covered includes journal articles, conference proceedings, reports, patents and books published around the world.
Web of Science This link opens in a new window
Accesses multidisciplinary databases of bibliographic information gathered from thousands of scholarly journals. The databases are indexed so you can search for specific articles by subject, author, journal, and/or author address. Because the information stored about each article includes the article's cited reference list (often called its bibliography), you can also search the databases for articles that cite a known author or work.

ASCE Civil Engineering Database
Provides full-text access to the journals published by the American Society of Civil Engineers.

ScienceDirect (Online) This link opens in a new window
ScienceDirect is a full-text scientific database offering journal articles and book chapters from almost 2,200 active journals and more than 26,000 books published by Elsevier.
PubMed This link opens in a new window
A free search engine with FindText access to ND's electronic journals. Searches MEDLINE, the National Library of Medicine's database of citations/abstracts in the fields of medicine, plus additional selected life sciences journals not in MEDLINE.

American Geophysical Union
AGU Digital Library is a comprehensive collection of more than 100 years of earth and space science research. The library contains articles from journals dating back to 1896.

SciFinder Web This link opens in a new window
Provides access to several Chemical Abstracts Service databases, including Chemical Abstracts, Registry, CASREACT, CHEMLIST, and CHEMCAT. Search by topic, author, CAS Registry Numbers, patent number, CAS abstract number, chemical name, chemical structure, and formula. Usage info: Licensed for six simultaneous users.
Engineering Research Database This link opens in a new window
Provides indexing and abstracts for international serial and non-serial literature pertaining to civil, earthquake, environmental, mechanical, and transportation engineering. Consists of database subfiles that may be searched separately or simultaneously.

Tips for Reading a Scholarly Article

Understanding how scholarly articles are organized helps make it easier to understand them. Here are some tips for reading scientific articles:

Michael Fosmire of Purdue University created a helpful tutorial on "How to Read a Scientific Paper."
Mary Purugganan and Jan Hewitt of Rice University created a handout on "How to Read a Scientific Article" as part of the Cain Project in Engineering and Professional Communication.

Books

Engineers use books in various ways. Handbooks and encyclopedias provide background information but are also tools to find equations, material properties, and other valuable pieces of information needed by engineers to succeed. Books are especially important in a college setting. Alternative textbooks can provide another perspective for students struggling to learn a new principle. Other books can provide overviews to aid in learning. Search in the ND Catalog for the books owned by the library, even the ebooks. Note that some books on engineering topics may be located in the main library or the Chemistry/Physics Library.

Knovel This link opens in a new window
Collection of cross-searchable e-books on engineering topics drawn from dozens of technical publishers and professional societies. Includes professional handbooks and analytical tools.

Hesburgh Libraries Online Catalog (ND Catalog)
ND Catalog lets you search the holdings of the Hesburgh Libraries, Kresge Law, and Holy Cross libraries' catalogs separately or together. It includes content from the University Archives, the Center for Research Libraries, and working papers from the Institute for Latino Studies.
Leisure Reading in Science and Technology
A list of general interest STEM books, which have been recently purchased to the ND libraries.

WorldCat This link opens in a new window
A worldwide union catalog created and maintained collectively by more than 9,000 OCLC member institutions. With millions of online records built from the bibliographic and ownership information of contributing libraries, it is the largest and most comprehensive database of its kind.

Government Information

Government sponsored research is critical for the advancement of science and technology. Engineers use technical reports in a manner similar to journal articles. Patents and trademarks are also important to engineers.

National Technical Information Service search for products. This link opens in a new window
Contains bibliographic and ordering information for more than 3 million technical publications, datafiles, CD-ROMs, and audiovisual materials added to the NTIS collection of information on research conducted or sponsored by the U.S. government.

Science.gov
Searches over 60 databases and over 2,200 scientific websites to provide users with access to more than 200 million pages of authoritative federal science information including research and development results

TRAIL (Technical Report Archive and Image Library) This link opens in a new window
Searchable database of U.S. government technical reports issued primarily prior to 1975, from a collaborative project to digitize, archive, and provide persistent and unrestricted access.

U.S. Department of Energy
DOE home includes sections on: - National Security - Energy Sources - Energy Efficiency - Environment - Energy Prices & Trends - Science & Technology - Health - Safety & Security.
Google Patents
Search and read the full text of patents from around the world with Google Patents, and find prior art in our index of non-patent literature.

United States Patent and Trademark Office This link opens in a new window
Access to issued patents' full-text (since 1976) and full-page image (since 1790) databases.

U.S. Geological Survey Maps, Imagery, and Publications
The U.S. Geological Survey website is a rich resources of information. This website provides links to the Publications Warehouse, Maps and Data, and more.
U.S. Geologic Survey Photographic Library
View and download images from the entire USGS image collection.
USGS Mineral Geologic Data and Images
Includes interactive maps and downloadable data for regional and global Geology, Geochemistry, Geophysics, and Mineral Resources.
USGS National Seismic Hazard Maps and Data
Part of the Earthquake Hazards program. The USGS provides seismic hazard assessments for the U.S. and areas around the world.

Standards

Standards are used heavily by engineers. They specify characteristics and properties of certain processes or products which may be required to satisfy contracts or grants or just to make sure your project will interact.

ASTM standards and engineering digital library This link opens in a new window
''Electronic edition of nearly every ASTM book, paper, or chapter from nearly every piece of work published by ASTM."--ASTM home page. "... covers a broad range of engineering disciplines, including aerospace, biomedical, chemical, civil, environmental, geological, health and safety, industrial, materials science, mechanical, nuclear, petroleum, soil science, and solar engineering."--Home page. Access info: Select "Standards and Engineering Digital Library" then click "Yes, I agree with the License"
IEEE standards This link opens in a new window
Contains searchable documents authored by the IEEE Standards Association, as well as standards developed in conjunction with or dually approved by other standards organizations. Includes ANSI/IEEE standards, ANSI standards, and AIEE standards. Also includes IEEE draft standards.

Theses and Dissertations

These resources will help you find unpublished theses and dissertations, which present an author's research and findings as part of their degree candidacy or professional qualification. Many institutions no longer submit their theses and dissertations to ProQuest. You can usually access theses and dissertations at the institutional repository of the university from which the degree was awarded (e.g. CurateND). These institutional repositories are usually associated with the colleges libraries.

ProQuest Digital Dissertations This link opens in a new window
Provides information about doctoral dissertations and master's theses, with subject, title, and author access to almost all American dissertations accepted at an accredited institution since 1861. Offers full text for most dissertations (Notre Dame and other) added since 1997. Access info: Access to full text (PDF) of Notre Dame dissertations since 1997, restricted to users with valid Notre Dame NetIDs.

CurateND
Collect your work in CurateND and share it with a worldwide audience.