SJSU Research Guides: Engineering 100W: Find Articles

Engineering Databases

A database is a searchable collection of information. You can use the following databases to find engineering-specific journal articles.

Engineering Village This link opens in a new window
Covers engineering disciplines and topics, including environmental topics. Learn more with this tutorial.
ScienceDirect This link opens in a new window
Covers science, technology and medicine (STM).
Scopus This link opens in a new window
This abstract and citation database covers thousands of scholarly journals, books, and conference proceedings. Covering a broad range of disciplines, Scopus enables one to track, analyze, and visualize research. Output data at the institutional and author levels are available. Authors will find h-index, Source Normalized Impact per Paper (SNIP), and citation counts helpful in demonstrating the impact of their work.
Web of Science (and ESI & JCR) This link opens in a new window
Covers sciences, social sciences, and arts & humanities. The advantage of this database is its Citation Network tool, which shows where else an article has been cited (and consequently, can lead you to additional resources!). Learn more with this tutorial.
IEEE Xplore This link opens in a new window
Primarily covers electrical, electronic and computer engineering. Additional coverage of interdisciplinary engineering topics. Learn more with this tutorial.
ACM Digital Library This link opens in a new window
Covers all aspects of computing. Good for computer science, computer and software engineering, and electrical engineering.
Springer Nature Link This link opens in a new window
Covers sciences, social sciences and humanities. In addition to journal articles, SpringerLink also provides books and book chapters, which can be helpful for gaining background information on a topic.
GreenFile This link opens in a new window
The database provides indexing and abstracts for approximately 384,000 records, as well as Open Access full text for more than 4,700 records. It draws on the connections between the environment and a variety of disciplines such as agriculture, education, law, health and technology. Topics covered include global climate change, green building, pollution, sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, recycling, and more.

Database Search Strategies

As database users, we can optimize our searches using specialized search strategies. The following video demonstrates these strategies in Engineering Village, but they can be applied to most databases.

Can't Get an Article?

Sometimes the full-text of an article doesn’t appear in the database, but that doesn’t mean the library doesn’t have access to it. You can use the “Find It” button (embedded in the database record) to search the full library collection for the article, and see if we have it elsewhere.

If the library does not in fact have access to the article, you can request a copy through Interlibrary Loan. The following video demonstrates this workflow.

Google Scholar

When you access Google Scholar, you can get access to the full text of the articles that San Jose State University Library subscribes to. In order to access full-text materials, please follow the steps below or watch this video to change the settings on Google Scholar.

Sign in to www.google.com/scholar using your SJSU e-mail account.
Click on Settings → Library Links.
Search for San Jose State University, check the box and click Save.

Once you have linked the library to your Google scholar account you may see a link, 'Find It@SJSU' on the right side of the article. Clicking on that link directs you to your library catalog where you can see the full text.