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APSC 201 - Engineering Communication

Finding Quality Engineering Sources

To find peer-reviewed, university level engineering articles, the best places to search are:

  1. Summon: UBC Library Search
  2. Compendex Engineering Village

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.

Library Access Browser Extension

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)

Tips for Searching Compendex Engineering Village

Make sure that only the Compendex Database is selected screenshot with only Compendex selected

 

Limit your search by Date to the past 5 years

screenshot of Compendex date limiter

 

Limit your search by Document Type to Journal Article screenshot of document type limtier: journal article

 

Choose your keywords carefully. Use the Controlled Vocabulary to help identify subtopics and narrow your search screenshot of controlled vocabulary limiter

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.

image of peer review process