To find peer-reviewed, university level engineering articles, the best places to search are:
To find books on your topic, the best place to search is Summon, the main search box on the library website. Books can be a great resource for these writing assignments as they cover a topic from multiple angles, whereas a journal article reports on a specific research project.
Login with your CWL for free access to information provided by UBC Library.
Step 1: Download and install the extension: leanlibrary.com/download
Step 2: Select University of British Columbia
Step 3: Start searching! When off-campus, Library Access will let you know when you are on a website that the library has access to.
Step 4: Login with your UBC CWL (campus wide login)
Make sure that only the Compendex Database is selected
Limit your search by Date to the past 5 years
Limit your search by Document Type to Journal Article
Choose your keywords carefully. Use the Controlled Vocabulary to help identify subtopics and narrow your search
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.