This page introduces features available in the two major engineering databases: Engineering Village Compendex and Inspec. These databases are typically searched together as if they were one but it is helpful to remember that they are separate. If you have problems gettering good results, consider searching them separately. Many of these strategies and options are available in other databases but may look different based on the producer of the resource. If you have questions about how to use any of the resources available on the engineering research guides, contact the librarian listed on the guide.
Note: On all of the Engineering Research Guides you will find the librarian's contact information and a mechanism for requesting an appointment (which can be in-person or virtual).
Compendex and Inspec are the two major engineering databases. Search them both together or choose just one of them.
You can choose which field you wish to search (e.g. author, subject) and enter your search terms.
You are given a larger box in which to construct your search. In the expert search, you use codes to indicate which fields to search. Use parentheses, brackets, and boolean logic to put words together. You can use truncation as well.
The thesaurus is a list of subject headings and their relations to each other. The two databases use different thesauri so only database thesaurus can be searched at one time. This is useful for finding subject headings.
Use the keywords you identified to build your search by creating a separate "set" for each concept. The example below illustrates combining a variety of terms related to solar power and combining them together using "OR". This step finds all the items that use these terms. Then, do a new search using the terms identified for the other concept, for example parking structures.
After creating both sets (or as many as you need for the concepts in your topic), combine the sets together with "AND" to create a final set that contains sources that discuss both concepts. This is done in the Search history menu. The steps below illustrate how to combine sets. Start with the "Search history," then View all results. Check the boxes for the sets you want to combine and choose the Boolean connector AND.
In this example, the combined search results contain 39 sources that discuss solar energy on parking structures.
Now, look at the results to see if the sources are useful.
Examine more closely some of the sources that seem the most relevant to your search by clicking on the title of the article. A few of the important areas to look at are highlighted in the example record below. The terms used in the search are highlighted in yellow.
Most databases include a variety of types of sources, sometimes for many years and possibly in languages other than English. Further refine your search by using the limiters on the left side of the screen.
Limiters can include:
Once you've chosen your limiters, click on the "Limit to" button to search again with your refinements.
As you look through your results, you'll need to identify whether the source is available to you through the library. Click on the SFX button as illustrated below to find out options for access.
In these examples, Find it at SDSU shows that SDSU does not subscribe to this journal, so to read this article you would need to request it through interlibrary loan.
For the second item, Find it at SDSU provides a direct link to the article. Simply click on the "Full Text Online" link and the article should open in your browser. When accessing resources from off-campus or to request an article through interlibrary loan, you will need to enter your SDSU user name and password (use the credentials you use to access MyState or your email).
