16.621: Experimental Projects I
Fall 2007

Finding general information | Finding articles | Organizing your references | For more information

Finding general information about your topic:

Books:

• Use the MIT Libraries’ catalog Barton
• Use title keyword or keyword from the pull down menu
• Search on words from your project, or you may need to use a broader term
• Use Worldcat to find books not at MIT. Ask our Interlibrary Borrowing office (ILB) to get them for you.

Electronic (on-line) handbooks: Use for data, overview articles, and bibliography.

• CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics
• knovel: Engineering & Scientific Online Handbooks
  The MIT Libraries now makes dozens of important handbooks in engineering and science available online to the MIT community through knovel. Click here for a full list of titles. A few useful titles are:
  • Metallic Materials Properties Development and Standardization
  • MIL Handbook 5: Metallic materials and elements for aerospace vehicle structures
  • MIL Handbook 17: The Composite Materials Handbook
    • Volume 1: Polymer Matrix Composites Guidelines for Characterization of Structural Materials 
    • Volume 2: Polymer Matrix Composites Materials Properties
    • Volume 3: Polymer Matrix Composites Materials Usage, Design, and Analysis
    • Volume 4: Metal Matrix Composites
  • Roark’s Formulas for Stress and Strain
  (The links to these titles only work on campus; if you are off-campus, use the knovel link above and find the books in the title list.)

Encyclopedias: Use for a general overview of your topic. Articles usually include a bibliography.

• McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology
• For other encyclopedias, see the encyclopedia section of our Virtual Reference page.

Finding articles on your topic in a database:

An example of an article: Cumpsty, N.A. and Greitzer, E.M. "Ideas and Methods of Turbomachinery Aerodynamics: A Historical View." Journal of Propulsion and Power (2004), 20(1), 15-26

Note: the term database, as used here, usually refers to a search engine for scholarly information in a particular field.

VERA: Virtual Electronic Resource Access

• MIT Libraries' gateway to the electronic resources we have access to
• Includes articles, electronic journals, and electronic books
• Search for a specific title in the search box on the left
• Browse by subject on the right side

Aerospace and High Technology Database (1962-present)

• Journal articles, conference papers, some NASA reports
• Look for “Full Text” or “SFX-Get This MIT” links to get the full article

Applied Science Index (coverage varies)

Use for general articles in magazines such as Aviation Week, Aerospace America, Physics Today, and Spectrum. Use the icons on the left for the path to an article.

• Compendex covers all areas of engneering, INSPEC covers physics, electrical engineering, and computer science (control and aerospace information)
• These databases may be searched together by selecting both at the top of the opening screen
• Compendex covers years back to 1884
• Inspec covers years back to 1896

Google - Using Google Appropriately (coverage varies)

• NASA reports back to 1958
• NACA reports back to 1915
• Only publicly available reports
• Use “Advanced Search” for more options
• See also the Finding Guide for NASA Technical Reports
• If the report you want is not available electronically, contact Aero Library staff at aero-lib@mit.edu.

• Covers all science and engineering
• Allows citation searching (who has cited this paper).
• A way of searching forward in time

Organizing your references

• Use RefWorks to organize references and create a bibliography.
• Start by logging in to Refworks. Anyone with an Athena account can create a RefWorks account; follow the link from the login page to sign up for an individual account.
• Web-based
• Uses folders
• Can share folders with other RefWorks users
• RefWorks offers its own tutorial and help pages.
• See also Cite Sources.

For more information see

• How do I find articles? to learn the basic steps for finding and getting articles
• How do I search databases? for tips on how to effectively search bibliographic databases
• How do I find books? for tips on using Barton, our catalog, or how to find books at other Libraries.
• How do I find materials properties?

For help anytime contact the Aero Library staff: aero-lib@mit.edu

This page was last updated on 10/11/07