Step 3.2 Decide where to search and run searches - Engineering Capstone Thesis - Completing Scoping Reviews - Library Guides at Charles Sturt University

Databases

The databases you search depend on your research question and the subject field. Some suggestions are listed below. Always check the A-Z Databases list and browse by subject, particularly if your research topic is cross-disciplinary.

Remember, you need to search the most relevant and comprehensive databases in your field.

Search multiple databases. It is considered necessary to search three or four databases for an exhaustive review.

Engineering databases

Engineering Source
An EBSCOhost database which covers all aspects of engineering research and practice and includes more than 2000 full-text journals.
Engineering Source indexes more than 3000 journals, and, of these, more than 2000 are available in full-text.

Subjects covered include aerospace, biomedical, civil, electrical, environmental, mechanical, software, and structural engineering.

Source documents includes journals, magazines, trade publications, books, conference papers, and proceedings.

This database is one of many available in EBSCOhost. Once on the EBSCOhost search screen, you can change databases by clicking on the Choose Databases link above the search boxes. All EBSCOhost databases can be searched individually or in any combination.
ProQuest SciTech Premium Collection
A comprehensive package of databases in the ProQuest platform, covering the natural and applied sciences.
ProQuest SciTech Premium Collection consists of three subsidiary collections which you can search individually if you wish. Two of these contain further collections/databases in the ProQuest hierarchy:
* Natural Science Collection - consisting of the Agricultural & Environmental Science Collection, the Biological Science Collection, and the Earth, Atmospheric & Aquatic Science Database
* Science Database
* Technology Collection - consisting of the Advanced Technologies & Aerospace Collection, and the Materials Science & Engineering Collection.

Content is sourced from scholarly journals, trade and industry journals, magazines, technical reports, conference proceedings, government publications, and more.

Topics include: advanced technologies; aerospace; agricultural science; aquatic science; atmospheric science; biological science; computer science; earth science; engineering; environmental science; materials science; polymer science.

The date range is from 1946 to current.

More information is available from ProQuest's SciTech Premium Collection LibGuide.

Once you are in the ProQuest platform, you can change to any other ProQuest database: click on the hamburger menu at the top left of any ProQuest screen, then click on Change databases. The databases are listed in a hierarchy. For another broad collection of databases in the science area, try ProQuest's subject package of Science & Technology Databases.
ProQuest Science Database
A database of more than 1,000 journals - with more than 750 available in full-text - which covers both the general and applied sciences.
Specific subject coverage includes: agricultural science; astronomy; biology; botany; chemistry; computing; environmental science; engineering; health and medical sciences; mathematics; physics; social sciences; statistics; telecommunications; and transportation.

Where full-text is not available, use the Find a copy link below the record to link to the full item, if available in another database.

Coverage extends back to 1986.

Once you are in the ProQuest platform, you can change to any other ProQuest database by clicking on the hamburger menu at the top left of screen, then on Change databases. You can search all ProQuest databases individually or in any combination. Other science-related databases in ProQuest include ProQuest SciTech Premium Collection and ProQuest Biological Science Collection, and there is a subject package available at ProQuest Science & Technology Databases.
IEEE Xplore Digital Library
A full-text database of publications from the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) and its publishing partners, including the IET (Institution of Engineering and Technology). These organisations are the world's major electrical and electronic engineering authorities.
Subject content includes electrical and electronics engineering, computer science, and associated topics such as aerospace engineering, biomedical sciences, geosciences, physics, medical imaging, digital animation and media, and telecommunications.

The main content that you have access to in IEEE Xplore is the IEEE/IET Electronic Library (IEL), which includes access to full text articles published since 1988 (and select content published since 1893) from:
* more than 150 IEEE journals, transactions, and magazines;
* 25 IET journals and magazines;
* proceedings from more than 1000 IEEE and IET annual conferences;
* more than 2,100 approved and published IEEE standards in key technology fields;
* the IEEE Standards Dictionary Online.

You also have access to:
* the VDE VERLAG Conference Proceedings, which include AbstractPlus records and select full text published since 2005 from more than 20 annual conference titles. [VDE Verlag is a European technical/scientific publisher]; and to
* individual online journals, including access to all AbstractPlus records and full text published since 2005 from IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems for Video Technology and from IEEE Transactions on Image Processing.

Updating is weekly, and more than 25,000 new IEEE/IET articles are added each month.

Environmental Studies

BioOne
An entirely full-text collection of more than 150 peer-reviewed journals, covering biological, ecological, and environmental sciences.
BioOne is a global not-for-profit collaboration which brings together scientific societies, publishers, and libraries to provide access to critical, peer-reviewed research in the biological, ecological, and environmental sciences.

This entirely full-text collection of more than 150 journals includes some of the most important academic society journals in their respective disciplines.

When you first log in, you will be in the Advanced Search screen, but you can also browse the database by title, publisher, or collection. (There are 3 "collections" - BioOne.1, BioOne.2, and Open Access. The first two collections represent packages of journals as added to the database, while the third is a small collection of open access journals.)

If you set up your own profile, you can make use of the My BioOne features, which include saved searches, search alerts, and lists of favourite journals.

Eco-Evidence
An online database with information about causal relationships in environmental science studies (registration required)

CSIRO Electronic Journals
Multi-subject Australian full-text journal collection published by CSIRO Publishing.
This resource is a collection of about 30 entirely full-text Australian journals published by CSIRO Publishing. The website has a tab for, and lists of, books and CDs, but it is the journals to which Charles Sturt Library subscribes, and which are available in full-text. These cover a broad range of scientific disciplines including mainly agriculture, the plant and animal sciences, and environmental management.

The collection can be searched or browsed. Searching can be limited to a journal or a number of journals. The searching functionality is not very sophisticated, and users are advised to check the Search hints link which is available on the Advanced Search screen. Some users prefer to use another index, such as Web of Science Core Collection or Scopus as a searching tool, and then use the Find it links to link to the full-text within CSIRO Electronic Journals.

Coverage varies with title, but in some cases extends back to the early 1900s. All articles are available in PDF format.

Multidisciplinary

Google Scholar
Set your computer to access full-text content from the CSU Library’s collection of online journals via Google Scholar

Academic Search Complete (EBSCOhost)
A huge multi-disciplinary database in the EBSCOhost platform that covers just about all the disciplines and subjects taught and studied at Charles Sturt University.
It includes article records and summaries from more than 12,500 full-text periodicals, and of these, more than 8,500 have full-text as well. There are also records and summaries from more than 13,200 other publications, including books, reports, and conference proceedings.

Subjects covered include nearly all areas of academic study, including arts & literature, business, computer sciences, education, engineering, environmental science, ethnic studies, language & linguistics, medical sciences, science, social sciences, and theology.

Coverage varies with publication title but extends back to 1887.

The database is updated daily.

Academic Research Complete is one of many databases available in EBSCOhost. EBSCOhost also has a number of subject-specific databases, and the Library gives access to packages of subject-related databases in EBSCOhost.

Once on the EBSCOhost search screen, you can change databases by clicking on the Choose Databases link above the search boxes. All EBSCOhost databases can be searched individually or in any combination.

Informit
Informit databases include Australian content and can be restricted to particular subject areas

Other places to look

Citation Indexes

These indexes are multidisciplinary as well, and their citation searching functions make a good addition to a comprehensive search.

Scopus
A multi-subject abstract and citation database of research literature. Known for its citation-tracking and bibliometric features.
Scopus is an abstract and citation database of research literature which offers coverage of more than 22,000 journals, and more than 150,000 books, from more than 5,000 publishers. There are nearly 70 million records and 1.4 billion cited references. Most records date since 1996 but Scopus has recently added records dated from 1970 - 1995.

Scopus does not in itself include the full-text of articles, but many records in a results list will have a View at publisher link. If that link doesn't work, use the Find it link to search for the full article via Primo Search.

Subject coverage includes:
* Life Sciences
* Health Sciences
* Physical Sciences
* Social Sciences & Humanities.

Scopus has a number of specialised features relating to bibliometrics which are mainly used by higher degree researchers. But one feature that might have wider application is the ability to use the View Cited By function to find articles that cite your selected articles(s). You can also sort your results list by citation count.

A note on access for academic/research staff: If you are academic/research staff and require access to your Charles Sturt researcher profile, please use this link - https://www.scopus.com - and sign in using the "Access through your Institution" option. Type Charles Sturt University into the search box and follow the prompts.
Web of Science
A collection of 6 databases available in the Thomson Reuters interface, the most significant of which are: Web of Science Core Collection; Current Contents Connect; MEDLINE; and SciELO Citation Index. These databases can be searched together or individually.
Details of the 6 databases are:
* Web of Science Core Collection - a collection of 5 citation indexes and 2 chemical indexes, where you can, amongst other things, find citing articles (ie articles that have cited a specific reference);
* Current Contents Connect - a current awareness product which includes tables of contents and citations from journals from all disciplines;
* KCI-Korean Journal Database - features research emanating from South Korea, and covers about 2,000 scholarly journals;
* MEDLINE - the well-known international health and medicine database, produced by the (US) National Library of Medicine;
* Russian Science Citation Index - covers Russian research in fields such as engineering, materials science, and ecology, with more than 600 journals indexed;
* SciELO Citation Index (Scientific Electronic Library Online) - a program of the Sao Paulo Research Foundation for the cooperative publishing of open access journals, which includes regional journals from Latin America and the Caribbean as well as titles from Spain, Portugal and South Africa.

These databases can be searched together ("All Databases", which is the default) or individually. To change to a single database, click on the drop-down arrow beside All Databases in the main tab-bar of the Web of Science screen.

Most of the articles in this databases don't have the full-text attached, but you can use the Find it button, situated beneath each record, to locate the full-text in another online database or in a campus library print holding.

Please note: Web of Science does not work in Internet Explorer 6 or 7, or Internet Explorer 8 or 9 when running in Compatibility View. If you wish to use Web of Science with IE, you should update the version, and, in IE 8 or 9, hit F12 and check that your Browser Mode is not set to Compatibility View.

Footnote chasing

Grey Literature

Grey literature is research that has not been published commercially, such as in academic journals. For that reason, it's not easy to find it using the usual databases and search engines. However, there is a lot of high quality, grey literature which, depending on your topic, could be relevant to your research question and also help to offset possible publication bias,

Examples of grey literature include government reports, conference proceedings, theses, policy documents and clinical trials. Do be aware that much of it is not peer reviewed, so should be evaluated carefully.

The Library’s guide to Grey Literature covers offers more information, including how to find and evaluate grey literature, and some good sources in different subject areas.

Hand searching and more

A full systematic review may require even more searching to make sure no stone is left unturned:

Hand searching, which involves reviewing the contents of the major journals and conference proceedings in your subject area page by page.
Contacting authors of key studies or known experts in the field
Checking through reference lists of retrieved articles

Citation searching

Library

Engineering Capstone Thesis - Completing Scoping Reviews: Step 3.2 Decide where to search and run searches