Using Article Databases
While you can find articles by searching Summon, UBC Library subscribes to hundreds of subject specific article databases.
Searching one database at a time can be more time consuming but is also more precise and comprehensive. Advantages of searching within databases include
- limiting your search to a specific discipline (e.g. Engineering, Medicine), and therefore fewer, but more relevant results.
- refining your search by discipline-specific elements, such as engineering subject terms, chemical compound, geographical location of topic, research methodology, etc.
- the ability to do more complex searches (See: Database Search Strategies below).
Core Databases
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Compendex Engineering VillagePremier engineering database, covering the core literature of the engineering field, including related specialties and technologies.
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IEEE Xplore Digital Library
The IEL database provides fulltext access to more than 140 technical journals, over 1000 standards, and approximately 900 annual conference proceedings published by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
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ScopusSearch citations and abstracts for journal articles, conference proceedings, and other resources in the sciences, social sciences, arts, and humanities. Can also be used for cited reference searches, citation analysis of research and searching by affiliation.
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Web of Science Core CollectionMultidisciplinary database of journal articles and conference proceedings, used for citation analysis of research. Includes access to EndNote Basic, a web-based version of EndNote.
Database Search Strategies
Google automatically finds synonyms and variations on the keywords you search for. Other databases don't always have the same capabilities. Here are a few tips which can make your database searches more effective:
Boolean operators: AND, OR, NOT
- Most databases assume an AND - they search for documents matching all the keywords you search for.
- OR can be very useful when you're not finding enough results - add in some synonyms to broaden your search. Use parentheses to gather these synonyms together and combine with another concept.
- NOT is equivalent to the minus sign in Google - use it to exclude a word from your search. Use with caution.
Phrase searching: put quotes around your keywords to find the words together, in that order. Might limit your search too much; use carefully.
Truncation: in most databases, an asterisk at the end of a word will find all different endings.
- Example: “life cycle” AND (analysis OR assess*)
Controlled vocabulary or subject headings: these are terms added to articles or books to help you find related topics. In some databases, you can click on these or add them to your search to help improve your results.
Understanding Peer Review
The Oxford English Dictionary defines peer review as:
"The process by which an academic journal passes a paper submitted for publication to independent experts for comments on its suitability and worth; refereeing" (Oxford English Dictionary, 2022).
However, you can double check whether a journal is peer reviewed by searching the journal title in Ulrich's. This is helpful as Compendex Engineering Village does not have a filter for only peer reviewed articles. Within Ulrich's, search for the journal title. If the referee's jersey appears next to the title, then the journal has gone through the peer review process.
For a good overview of the components of an academic article, see Anatomy of a Scholarly Article.
