ULibraries Research Guides: Chemical Engineering: Searching for Articles/Patents

Citing your sources

Why should you cite your sources?

Shows you have done your research
Lends credibilty and support to your research and recommendations
Allows others to reproduce your research process
Acknowledges others' contributions

Be as specific as you can: cite specific pages if possible; cite a particular chapter instead of the whole book, especially if chapter are written by different authors, etc.

Be sure to use the citation style given to you in class to be used with your reports.

Search Strategies

Remember the strategies discussed in class:

Start big
Start small
Citation searching

Also:

Use multiple strategies for a comprehensive search.
Use database features to help you narrow your results or to expand them.
Use review articles as a starting point and for background on unfamiliar topics.

See the PowerPoint on the HOME tab for additional details.

Other places to search for articles or patents

SciFinder This link opens in a new window
NOTE: You must register for a user account to use this database - note that for registration you must use your University of Utah email.

This database is licensed for use only by U of U faculty, students and staff conducting scholarly research. It is not to be used for commercial research. SciFinder provides access to the substance information and chemical literature in CAS (Chemical Abstracts Service) databases. Currently the database includes over 16 million journal articles, patents and other documents and more than 24 million substance records in the CAS Chemical Registry database. Please contact CAS at 1-800-753-4227 or Shane Wallace email shane.wallace@utah.edu with any questions regarding registration or access.
Science of Synthesis / Houben-Weyl This link opens in a new window
The Science of Synthesis Database is structure, reaction, text, and field searchable and provides access to the full Science of Synthesis series, including the Houben-Weyl Archive, published from 1909 to-date. Science of Synthesis / Houben-Weyl is the largest collection of evaluated and vetted methods of organic, organometallic, and medicinal synthesis in the world.
Science of Synthesis / Houben-Weyl is one of the most important reference works in chemistry. Houben-Weyl consisted initially of two volumes and covering literature in organic and medicinal chemistry published from 1834 through 1911. It was extended by several editions until 1990. Then supplementary volumes were published through 1999. Taken together the Houben-Weyl editions and supplements include 160,000 pages in 160 volumes with 580,000 chemical structures, 146,000 experimental methods and 700,000 references. From 2000 to 2010, a new English edition was published with the title Science of Synthesis comprised of 48 volumes. Science of Synthesis is constantly updated and contains nearly 30,000 new procedures and methods, nearly 200,000 reactions and over 800,000 chemical structures. Today, Science of Synthesis / Houben-Weyl is the largest collection of evaluated and vetted methods of organic, organometallic, and medicinal synthesis in the world. Science of Synthesis and Houben-Weyl, can be viewed as a set of review articles, written by experts who summarize the literature and who document standard experimental techniques and chemical transformations. The entire resource contains more than 1.2 million references.
Scopus This link opens in a new window
Scopus is a large abstract and citation database of research literature and patents. The database is updated daily; Scopus contains over 93 million records with over 87 million records since 1970. Scopus indexes over 26,000 peer-reviewed journals from more than 7,000 publishers, including over 6,000 open access journals. Scopus also indexes nearly 200 trade publications, nearly 150,000 conferences, and over 300,000 books. Additionally, the database contains over 48 million patent records from US Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO), European Patent Office (EPO), Japan Patent Office, World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), and UK Intellectual Property Office.
U.S. Patent & Trademark Office This link opens in a new window
Search for or file a patent or trademark.

Key Journals

Engineering Village 2 (Compendex Archive and INSPEC)

Engineering Village 2
This database covers both Compendex Archive from 1884-1969 and Inspec from 1898- present.
Compendex Archive covers the engineering field from 1884 to 1969. Database covers nuclear technology, bioengineering, transportation, chemical and process engineering, light and optical technology, agricultural engineering and food technology, computers and data processing, applied physics, electronics and communications, control, civil, mechanical, materials, petroleum, aerospace and automotive engineering as well as narrower subtopics within all these and other major engineering fields.

Inspec is a bibliographic database providing access to scientific literature in electrical engineering, electronics, physics, control engineering, information technology, communications, computers, computing, and manufacturing and production engineering. The database contains over 11.2 million bibliographic records from scientific and technical journals and conference proceedings. Inspec's online coverage is from 1898 to the present, and records are updated weekly, with approximately 600,000 new records added to the database annually.