To find articles in journals and papers presented at conferences, use one or more of the following indexing services.
Highly Recommended:
For Related Subject Fields use:
If The ASU Library does not have a copy of the journal article you need, request the article via our Interlibrary Loan service. The service is free and most articles are scanned and put in your account within 48 hours. For the fastest "turn-around" time, be sure to include the journal's ISSN (International Standard Serial Number) on the request.
To Find Books in the ASU Library:
To Find Books In Other Libraries:
If the ASU Library doesn't have the book that you need, request the book via our Interlibrary Loan Service.
Many e-books can be found through the ASU Library Catalog.
To limit your search to e-books:
Results will include a link to access the book.
*Many of our electronic books are listed in the catalog however, we also have several e-book collection in which you can use the native search engine for these collections:
Books from major publishers in all subject areas.
Books from major publishers in all subject areas.
Gale Virtual Reference Library
A collection of encyclopedias, almanacs, and specialized reference sources for multidisciplinary research.
Full text of many books published by IEEE in addition to journal and conference articles and standards
Knovel
Over 2,000 science and engineering handbooks in which you can find facts, formula and property data.
Books from major publishers, organizations and government agencies in all subject areas.
Primarily books related to computer programming and other information technology areas.
Full-text of selected journals, books, book series, and reference works and the Online Archives Collection from science publisher Springer.
Synthesis Digital Library
Innovative online information service for the research, development and educational communities in engineering and computer science.
Some links to resources where you can find engineering and business case studies:
National Center for Professional & Research Ethics:
NSPE Board of Ethical Review Cases
Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions
Acadia Institute of Case Studies
Journal of "Case Studies in Engineering Failure Analysis"
General engineering search engines:
Engineering Village and/or
Knovel and use the keywords to find case studies.
Business indexing engines:
Then from the advanced search if you click on the “Document type” menu you can select case study
Or enter “case study” “case studies” in the keywords.
Use the link in the upper bar or in the lower righthand corner for case studies or you can alternatively search via keywords.
Finding out about a topic, i.e., the "background" information, before doing literature research will help you increase your vocabulary so that you can search the best, most efficient words and also allow you to recognize appropriate books and journal articles even if the authors do not describe the topic the same way you do. The more you know about a topic, the better you'll be able to focus on a specific aspect that would be appropriate for your paper. Background information may be found in the following types of resources which generally provide a summary:
Business Dictionaries:
General Dictionaries:
Mathematics Dictionaries:
Sci/Tech Dictionaries:
Encyclopedias:
Encyclopedia of Materials - Science and Technology
11 vols. includes biomaterials
Subject Encyclopedias:
Engineering-related Encyclopedias in the ASU Library include:
Handbooks
Handbooks provide a summary of a specific subject and frequently include data compilations and formulas. Handbooks are also a great place to look for "quick facts" about a topic.
Knovel
A full text, online collection of over 800 handbooks, data collections, and encyclopedias for science and engineering. This collection includes:
Handbooks in the Libraries
To find handbooks available in the libraries, use the ASU Library's Catalog and do a keyword search for the topic and handbooks; examples:
A patent is a government grant bestowing certain property rights on the inventor; these rights usually permit the inventor to exclude others from making, using, or selling the invention.
For more information about patents and finding/research patents please see the ASU Library's
For more detailed assistance you may consider consulting the Arizona State Library's
For more detailed information about standards at the ASU Library, please see the Standards Guide
IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) Full text of IEEE standards available in IEEEXplore
ANSI (American National Standards Institute)
SEMI (semi.org; "global industry association serving the manufacturing supply chain for the micro- and nano-electronics industries")
ISO (International Organization for Standardization)
Search Engines for Standards
ANSI Search (formerly NSSN)
Codes
US Local Codes (MAD CAD)
Links to online codes for all 50 states plus US Territories; within each state links are provided to websites of county, city, town and jurisdiction agencies and to their respective codes when available online.
To identify what technical reports exist on a particular topic, use:
To find the full text of a specific report:
The ASU Library acknowledges the twenty-three Native Nations that have inhabited this land for centuries. Arizona State University's four campuses are located in the Salt River Valley on ancestral territories of Indigenous peoples, including the Akimel O’odham (Pima) and Pee Posh (Maricopa) Indian Communities, whose care and keeping of these lands allows us to be here today. ASU Library acknowledges the sovereignty of these nations and seeks to foster an environment of success and possibility for Native American students and patrons. We are advocates for the incorporation of Indigenous knowledge systems and research methodologies within contemporary library practice. ASU Library welcomes members of the Akimel O’odham and Pee Posh, and all Native nations to the Library.