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Databases for Engineers

How to link to and use databases in the subject of engineering.

Introduction

This guide is intended to provide an overview of databases available to you as a registered student or member of staff at the University of Birmingham. There are different types of databases ranging from bibliographic (containing references to journal articles and other documents) to databases containing chemical or physical information, such as boiling points, vapour pressures etc. This guide gives key databases for each type.

Accessing Databases

The databases listed in this guide are either:

  • free of charge and hence freely available over the internet, or
  • paid for by the University, in which case the providers of the databases need to verify that you are a member of the University via secure authentication before they can allow access

To access our databases and eResources please go to FindIt@Bham. It is recommended that you sign in first, using your University username and password. This will allow you to gain access to the full text of electronic material subscribed to or purchased by the University. It is especially important that you are signed in if you are using these resources from off-campus.

Bibliographic databases (abstracting and indexing services)

In order to identify articles that will be of interest to you, it is useful to start with the abstracting and indexing services, or bibliographic databases. Search these services to find references and abstracts of journal articles, conference proceedings and more.  These databases often have links to full-text (look for the  button). However, if the link does not work, or if there is no link, please check on FindIt@Bham using the journal title to see if full-text is available on any of our electronic services or if we have a print copy. 

Library Services subscribes to a number of abstract and indexing services of relevance to engineers, including Ei Village, SciFinder Scholar and Web of Science. 

FindIt@Bham

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