Library Guides: Electrical Engineering Research Guide: Getting Started

Finding Background Information

Use these sources to gain familiarity with your topic, narrow your research question, provide context, and identify experts.

Find It @ USC Libraries
Search for articles, books, and more or limit to USC Libraries collection.
International Critical Tables of Numerical Data, Physics, Chemistry and Technology
This classic and well-known reference was originally published from 1926 - 1930 for the National Research Council. Featuring physical, thermodynamic, mechanical, and other key properties on inorganic and organic compounds, and pure substances.
MatWeb - Material Property Data
A searchable database with data sheets for over 180,000 metals, plastics, ceramics, and composites. Includes possible uses and manufacturers when available.
**Note: Advanced Search unavailable at this time
Oxford Dictionary of Weights, Measures, and Units
This comprehensive dictionary provides clear definitions of all the units, prefixes, and styling of the Système International (SI), as well as industry-specific and traditional terms currently in use.
Oxford Dictionary of Scientists
From Archimedes and Copernicus to Stephen Hawking and Stephen Jay Gould, this is the most authoritative and up-to-date biographical dictionary of scientists currently available. Spanning over 2,500 years, it covers all areas of science.
Smithsonian Physical Tables (9th Revised Edition)
901 tables of general interest to scientists and engineers, and of particular interest to those involved with physics in its larger sense.

Engineering Problem Solving by Milton C. Shaw
Publication Date: 2001
This book fills in many of the gaps in engineering education by showing students and professionals, the historical background of problem solving.

Use these sources to find scholarly/peer-reviewed materials in your field

IEEE Xplore This link opens in a new window
Major database for electrical engineering and computer science literature, featuring high-quality content from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET).
Engineering Village This link opens in a new window
Access to Compendex, the comprehensive database for Engineering research, and Inspec, the premier database for physics and related areas.
Web of Science Core Collection This link opens in a new window
Indexes thousands of the most prestigious, high impact research journals in the world. Also has cited reference searching and ways to refine and analyze your search results.
Merck Index Online This link opens in a new window
A database of over 10,000 significant chemicals, drugs, and biological substances, containing physical property data, safety data, literature references, and structures. Also includes Organic Name Reactions, which describes organic chemical reactions which have come to be recognized and referred to by name within the chemistry community.
SciFinderⁿ This link opens in a new window
First time users must register for SciFinder
Provides access to the full Chemical Abstracts database with citations to the literature of chemistry and patents, as well as compound information and substructure and reaction searching.
Once you register you can use SciFinder Mobile .

Using a citation manager or organizer can a) help you create citations and b) allow you to keep all of your citations contained

Zotero Tutorials
Learn how to get started with Zotero, a free and open-source citation manager available to anyone.
EndNote Desktop Introduction
A guide to using EndNote Desktop, which is available for purchase from Clarivate. A free version with limited capabilities, EndNote Basic, is also available to anyone.

Written by the scientists(s) or researcher(s) who conducted the experiment or study
Should include sections detailing how the research was performed such as methodology, results, and discussion/conclusions

Authors did not conduct the research studies which are mentioned or cited in the article themselves
Purpose is to summarize, review, or compare the published research on a specific topic