Books

MadCat will show you where to get print and electronic books on campus. If UW - Madison doesn't have something, WorldCat searches libraries around the world for books you can borrow for free.

Articles in Journals, Magazines, and Newspapers

Already know the article you need? See our guide on how to find articles.

Article Databases

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 the E-Resource Gateway 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.

Conference Proceedings

Engineers and scientists share information at conferences. Conference proceedings are the published version of the papers that were presented at the conference. Conference papers and proceedings are indexed in article databases.

Dissertations and Masters Theses

As part of earning a graduate degree, doctoral students are required to write dissertations; many masters students write a thesis. These papers are usually strictly reviewed and can be excellent sources of information on very specific topics. Most dissertations and theses contain original research and extensive lists of cited references.

Finding dissertations can be hard; see our how to find dissertations guide for information on finding dissertations.

Patents

Patents are excellent sources of technical information because the inventor must fully disclose how the invention works. Find out how and where to search for patents in our Guide to patent information. See where to get help with your patent searching on our Patent services page.

Technical Reports

Technical reports publish the results of federally funded research performed by companies, universities and government laboratories. Some reports are short but others are book length. To start searching technical reports, go to our How to Find page. Read about the Technical Report Center at Wendt.

Standards

“A standard can be defined as a set of technical definitions and guidelines, "how to" instructions for designers, manufacturers and users. Standards promote safety, reliability, productivity and efficiency in almost every industry that relies on engineering components or equipment. Standards can run from a few paragraphs to hundreds of pages, and are written by experts with knowledge and expertise in a particular field who sit on many committees.” – American Society of Mechanical Engineers

For help with finding standards at Wendt, go to our How to Find Standards page

Company Information

Trade magazines contain informaton about compaines in engineering fields. Company overviews, financial reports and other statistics can be found in Standard and Poor’s Net Advantage, Dun and Bradstreet Million Dollar Database, and other company databases. ThomasNet is an excellent source of information about products, manufacturers, and suppliers including CAD drawings.

Property Data

Knovel is a good source for property data. The Chemistry library also has good information about property data.

Citation management

Refworks can help you collect and organize citations and create bibliographies; it available for free to all UW - Madison students, faculty, and staff.

Search Techniques

It can be hard to find the best information for your topic. If you’re having trouble, see the UW Libraries' guide to doing library research.

RSS Feeds and Email Alerts

Many library databases allow you to save your searches and have search results automatically sent to you as new relevant articles are published. See our guide to RSS feeds and alert services for more information.