Beginning Your Research 
Reading about your topic in a specialized encyclopedia, dictionary, or handbook may be one of the most effective and time saving research tips. These resources can help you define unfamiliar terms, understand the historical background in a particular area and provide you with a preliminary bibliography on the subject. Here are a few items from the Science & Engineering Reference Section. See also Books
Encyclopedia Britannica [UC Only]
- While not exclusively a science encyclopedia, this is a good place to get oriented to subjects that are new to you, or to get an overview of a multidisciplinary subject. Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary is also available from this interface.
ENGnetBASE - Engineering Handbooks Online [UC Only]
The complete text of over 149 engineering handbooks from CRC Press, in the fields of electrical, communications, biomedical, environmental, mechanical, structural, and ocean engineering. Each chapter is a pdf file and is full-text searchable. Sample titles include: Handbook of Antennas in Wireless Communications, and the Computer Engineering Handbook.
Dictionaries
The Science Library also has an extensive collection of printed science encyclopedias, handbooks and specialized subject dictionaries located in the reference section of the library, behind the reference desk. Search CRUZCAT by keyword to see what is available and to obtain specific call numbers (library locations).
Not finding what you need? Email a reference librarian.
Articles
See also Online Journals | ERes
(Electronic Reserves) | Connecting
to Online Resources from Home | Minimum
Browser Recommendations | Scientific Publication Cycle [pdf]
Use the databases below to search for articles via keyword, subject,
or author. Links to the electronic version of the article are often available.
If the article is only available in print, these databases will give you
the library's call number (location) for the journal. [more
info]
Flash movie tutorial:  (1:30 min) 
Engineering Databases Comparison Chart
- Quick overview of several UCSC-licensed engineering databases - Inspec, Compendex, Web of Science, PubMed (for bioinformatics) and the freely available CiteSeer [pdf].
INSPEC [UC only] [Alerts] - Editor's Choice!
1969-present. This is the best single choice for comprehensive coverage
of journal articles and conference papers in electrical engineering,
computer science and physics. INSPEC includes all the IEEE, IEE and ACM literature as well
as many other publishers (which makes it broader than IEEE
Xplore which covers only the IEEE/IEE literature). Compendex (see below) covers all engineering disciplines with a slightly different selection of journals covered as compared to Inspec. The truncation symbol in this database is $.
Quick
Guide to INSPEC via OVID
INSPEC AutoAlerts Tutorial: create a search that runs automatically in INSPEC with new database records sent to your email [pdf].
INSPEC Backfiles [UC only]
1898-1968. Access to over 70 years of international scientific and technical literature in physics, electrical engineering, electronics, computing and control engineering. Corresponds to three print resources: Science Abstracts (1898-1902) and its successors Physics (Section A), Electrical and Electronic Engineering (Section B), and Computer Science (Section C). The backfile covers original and translated articles, dissertations, conferences, papers and proceedings, books, book chapters, reports and patents published in Europe and America. Figures and tables are included.
Compendex [UC Only] 
1884-present, includes Engineering Index Backfile. This article database covers all engineering disciplines. Best for journal articles and conference papers in aerospace, materials science and mechanical engineering. Also includes electrical engineering, computer engineering and computer science, so for comprehensive searches of those disciplines using both Inspec and Compendex is advised. The truncation symbol in this database is *.
- Quick Guide to Ei COMPENDEX
-
Web Of Science (Science Citation Index) [UC Only] [Alerts]
1975-present. This is an index to scientific journal articles that also allows you to search for citations to a particular article. You look up the reference to a work that you know about to find more recent journal articles that have cited it. Cited reference searching is a unique way to trace ideas and subjects from past research into the present day. Searchable by author, keyword, and cited reference. Unfortunately this database does not cover conference literature. Because there are a limited number of ports available, please be sure to logoff when you are finished so that your connection can be made available to someone else.
Flash Movie Tutorial: Web of Science: Creating Alerts (2:05 min from the UC Berkeley Library)
Cited Reference Search Quick Guide [pdf]
IEEE Xplore [UC Only] [Alerts]
1951-present. Full-text access to IEEE transactions, journals, magazines and conference proceedings published since 1988 and all current IEEE standards. Browse by journal title, conference name; search by author, subject, abstract keywords, etc. All of the content here is also included in the INSPEC database (including the full text), though perhaps newly published items may appear here sooner than in INSPEC. Expanded Academic ASAP [UC Only]
1980-present. Citations to articles from selected scholarly, scientific and general interest journals, and popular magazines in all subject areas. Good place to start for general multidisciplinary searches or for more popular articles.
ACM Portal [UC Only]
This information portal from the ACM (Association of Computing Machinery)
consists of two interlinking parts: the ACM
Digital Library and the ACM
Guide to Computing Literature. The ACM Digital Library is a searchable
database of all the works published by ACM since its inception, with links
to the full text of each article. The Digital Library is for the ACM what
Xplore is for the IEEE. All of the content of the Digital Library is also
available through INSPEC (including all the full text), though perhaps
newly published items may appear here sooner than in INSPEC. The ACM Guide to Computing Literature
is a database of computing literature from many publishers, including
ACM. As of October 2006 the Guide includ 1,015 journal titles, conferences (8,656), and books (83,447). The Guide also includes
citations to some doctoral and masters theses. For more, see Dissertations.
Complete
list of Science & Engineering Databases available to UCSC users.
Not finding what you need? Email
a reference librarian.
Online Journals
See also: Connecting to Online Resources from Home Using OCA (Off Campus Access) | How
To Determine if UCSC Owns A Particular Journal
List of Electronic
Full Text Journals
- Search by words in the journal title to find journals which are available in full-text electronic format to UCSC users.
Not finding what you need? Email
a reference librarian.
Books
See also: Overview Information - Encyclopedias, Handbooks & Dictionaries | Connecting
to Online Resources from Home
CRUZCAT
Catalog for the UCSC
Libraries. Includes our library locations for books, journals, conference
proceedings, maps, videos and more.
Flash movie tutorial: Searching
for a Known Journal Title (2:40 min)
Melvyl Catalog
The combined catalog of items owned by each of the libraries in the UC system. You can REQUEST items to be sent to you from other libraries. [more info] Getting Started with the Melvyl
Document Delivery Service
Document Delivery Service to your campus address for UCSC faculty, staff, and graduate students.
O'Reilly Books Online (via Safari) [UCSC Only] - Please log off when done!
Desktop access to over one hundred O'Reilly & Associates technical books, cover to cover. Topics include Java, Linux/Unix, Networking, Perl, Programming, Software Engineering, Web Development, XML, Bioinformatics, etc. There is a 10-minute "time-out" period for each user session. If there is no activity on the interface for 10 minutes the user will be logged out, thus making the system available for another user. If you experience any difficulties accessing this product, please let Danielle know.
ENGnetBASE - Engineering Handbooks Online [UC Only]
The complete text of over 149 engineering handbooks from CRC Press, in the fields of electrical, communications, biomedical, environmental, mechanical, structural, and ocean engineering. Each chapter is a pdf file and is full-text searchable. Sample titles include: Handbook of Antennas in Wireless Communications, and the Computer Engineering Handbook.
New Engineering Books in the Science & Engineering Library
See the list of engineering books purchased last month for the Science & Engineering Library. The list is updated once a month to show items purchased in the previous month. A new book list for Computer Science and for other subjects are also available.
Books and Other Materials on Reserve for Classes Students -- Course reserves are listed in the CRUZCAT online catalog. You can search by course name or instructor to find items on reserve for your class. More information about reserves is also available. Instructors -- Instructions on how to place materials on reserve are available.
Bay Tree Bookstore
Not finding what you need? Email a reference librarian.
Data
See also Comprehensive Web Sites | Science
Library Virtual Reference Shelf
ENGnetBASE - Engineering
Handbooks Online [UC Only] Editor's Choice!
- The complete text of over 149 engineering handbooks from CRC Press, many of which contain substantial tables of data. Each chapter is a pdf file and is full-text searchable. Sample titles include: Handbook of Formulas and Tables for Signal Processing.
NEW: This custom search engine currently searches all of the sites below with one conveinent search box. Note: If you do not see the google search box it is because you computer does not allow Active Content and you must allow blocked content.
Data Sheet Archive NEW
Searches 5.2 Million Datasheets & 1.1 Million Cross-References.
The Chip Directory
Numerically and functionally ordered chip lists, chip pinouts and lists of chip manufacturers, manufacturers of controller embedding tools, electronics books, CDROM's, magazines, and WWW sites.
ChipDocs
The online datasheet source for electronic components and semiconductors, especially for obsolete parts.
The Datasheet Locator
Datasheet Locator is a free electronic engineering tool that enables you to locate product datasheets from hundreds of electronic component manufacturers worldwide. Access is by company name.
eFunda: Engineering Fundamentals
EFunda provides extensive unit conversion, equations, online calculators, and material data of value to engineers.
Electrical Engineers Circuits Archive (EECA) from the College of Engineering, University of Washington
A directory of circuit diagrams freely available on the Web.
Electrical Conversions, Formulas and References - From the RF Cafe
Looking for Maxwell's equations or capacitance conversions? This is the Web Site for you.
Thomas Register of American Manufacturers
Product and service suppliers in 52,000 categories. Good for finding company contact information or getting lists of suppliers for a particular product. Many online product catalogs are also available that may contain product specifications. You must complete the free registration in order to perform a search. You can also try Thomas Regional for added local information.
Not finding what you need? Email a reference librarian.
Patents
United States Patent and Trademark
Office
- Full text patent search since 1976, full page images since 1790. Search for trademarks, both live and dead. General information regarding patents and trademarks is also provided.
USPTO Manual of Classification
The United States Patent Office's free network of databases. You can search patent applications in their original language, or a database of patents with English titles and abstracts.
Pioneering EE Patents
Twice each month, EEPATENTS.com showcases a pioneering patent in the field of Electrical Engineering. Check back regularly as original patents are featured for such fundamental building blocks of EE design as the transistor, the superhetrodyne receiver, and the computer mouse. You can view a summary of each historic patent and, if you like, get a free copy as a PDF file.
Not finding what you need? Email a reference librarian.
News & Recent Information
Newspaper
Databases - list of newspaper databases available to UCSC researchers.
C/NET
Source for information about computers, the Internet, and digital technologies. Buyer's guides, reviews, latest tech news, jobs, how-to's on software, hardware, and consumer electronics. Also a good source for software to download.
ZDNet
Ziff-Davis site for reviews, news, downloads, how-to's and help guides, jobs, salary guide, and ZD published computer magazines including Macworld, PC Computing, PC Magazine, PC Week, Computer Shopper, and Yahoo! Internet Life.
EETimes Online
Source for information on semiconductor news, electronic design news, design articles, and also covers new products.
Not finding what you need? Email a reference librarian.
Dissertations
Digital Dissertations
[UC Only]
- This database provides access to the full-text of all Ph.D. dissertations from University of California campuses since 1997 (many issued in late 1996 are also available). The first twenty-four pages of dissertations from many other universities are also available. Also included, with more than 1.5 million entries, is the Dissertation Abstracts International database, the authoritative source for information about doctoral dissertations and master's theses. The database includes citations for materials ranging from the first US dissertation, accepted in 1861, to those accepted as recently as last semester; those published from 1980 forward also include 350-word abstracts, written by the author. UCSC master's theses are not in this database. Citations for master's theses from many other universities are available here.
WorldCat Dissertations and Theses Database
This database contains records for over 5 million items cataloged as dissertations, theses, or publisher materials based on theses or dissertations in WorldCat. Click on the Databases tab, uncheck Worldcat, and check WorldCatDissertations. To limit to UCSC, check the box next to Limit availability to items in my library using the Advanced Search.
Not finding what you need? Email a reference librarian.
Societies and Associations
Not finding what you need? Email a reference librarian.
Comprehensive Web Sites
See also Data
GlobalSpec NEW
The Engineering Search Engine. Limit your search to technical and engineering-related Web sites in such areas as part numbers, application notes, material properties, patents, standards, and products and suppliers.
Nanotechnology from EEVL: Edinburgh Engineering Virtual Library
A selection of key web sites in the field, followed by an alphabetical listing of additional sites of all types: university programs, tutorials, companies, and data compilations to name a few. The resources here have been selected and annotated by librarians.
Nanotechnology Now
A portal that includes a wide range of information including news, white papers, definitions and general information, book reviews, event listings and more. It is sponsored by the Foresight Institute who's goal is "to guide emerging technologies to improve the human condition."
NanoScout
This is a new nanotechnology web portal that looks promising. Includes links to news, jobs, company information, research groups, software, recommended books and more.
The EE Compendium
Comprehensive directory of links to hardware, software, projects and tutorials for electronic engineering and embedded systems programming.
eg3.com
eg3.com is a community portal that indexes all the net resources, free software, papers, books, hardware, and services of value to the embedded, dsp, system-on-a-chip, and real-time community.
Optics.Org: Photonics Resources for Scientists and Engineers
Lots here: news, a buyer's guide, job postings, product announcements, selected feature articles (we recommend INSPEC for a more complete search), and more.
The Semiconductor Subway
The subway provides links to all manner of semiconductor and microsystems related information, including fabrication facilities, research activities, standards work, etc. It is maintained by the MIT Microsystems Technology Laboratories in an effort to foster education and communication in Microsystems and semiconductor technology.
Not finding what you need? Email a reference librarian.
Jobs & Career Information
IEEE
Career and Employment Resources
- Read electrical engineering and computer engineering job postings and post your resume. IEEE Spectrum also offers a Careers site, with career and job information.
America's Job Bank
Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor. Job seekers can post their resumes and search for job openings. Employers can post job listings and search resumes.
Chronicle of Higher Education - Career Network
Jobs in academia plus career guidance. For the most current job listings, users must be Chronicle subscribers, however, the previous weeks' listings are viewable by anyone.
JobStar: California
Looking for a job or planning a career in California? Check out this directory of job links (including job fairs, job hotlines, searchable databases of job advertisements posted in local newspapers), salary information, and career planning advice.
Thinking about going to graduate school?
Check out the ASEE Directory of Engineering Colleges and/or the Peterson's Education Center for college catalogs.
Not finding what you need? Email a reference librarian.
Writing Tools
See also Style
Guides | Dictionaries | Public
Speaking Help
Books about communication
of technical information, and books about
technical writing are available for you to borrow at the Science &
Engineering Library. Check the lists to see what's available.
The S&E
Library also has a copy of Proposals
That Work: A Guide for Planning Dissertations and Grant Proposals by
Lawrence F. Locke, et al. that you might find useful.
LaTeX Resources
[Do you have a favorite LaTeX site? Let Danielle know.]
LaTeX is not a word processor, but rather a typesetting language.
LaTeX is based on Donald E. Knuth's TeX language. LaTeX was first developed
in 1985 by Leslie Lamport, and is now being maintained and developed
by the LaTeX3 Project. LaTeX
is a very common standard for the communication and publication of scientific
documents.
Faculty Guide to Cyber-Plagiarism
A site primarily focused on information for faculty regarding the recognition and prevention of plagiarism. A helpful section on writing tips for students is also available.
UC Copyright
Links to UC copyright policies at the systemwide and local campus level, plus local campus contacts, copyright FAQs, and other information related to the use of copyrighted and public domain materials.
Copyright Law & Graduate Research: New Media, New Rights and Your New Dissertation by Kenneth D. Crews
EndNote
EndNote (available for purchase at an academic discount at the UCSC Bay Tree Bookstore) is a database manager used in concert with a word processor on PCs and Macs. EndNote allows you to create your own personal library to store and manage references to documents. It works with Word and WordPerfect, and with other common PC and Mac word processors, to insert citations into papers and to format bibliographies in any of hundreds of styles. EndNote can import search results from many bibliographic databases, including INSPEC, Current Contents, and Web of Science.
Not finding what you need? Email a reference librarian.
Public Speaking Help
See also Writing Tools
How to Give
a Talk: Changing the Culture of Academic Public Speaking -
Editor's Choice!
- A short paper full of excellent practical advice. From Paul N. Edwards at the School of Information, University of Michigan.
Dealing with Presentation Disasters
Very useful suggestions for the most common disasters that befall almost everyone, even though the perspective here is business oriented.
Books on communicating technical information and using Microsoft PowerPoint available for checkout from the UCSC Libraries Is the building construction blocking your access to the Science & Engineering Library?
Not finding what you need? Email a reference librarian.
Teaching Resources
NetTrail Online Literacy Course (University of California, Santa Cruz) - Editor's Choice!
Here your students will learn the information skills that will help them succeed academically. NetTrail contains six modules, each covering an important area of information use: Types of Information, Choosing a Topic, Library & Web, CRUZCAT, Find Articles, and Info Ethics (including plagiarism). It is possible for an instructor to assign the online course to students through successful completion of the Quiz.
Instruction/Classes/Workshops at the UCSC Science Library - Editor's Choice!
Find out how the library can help you and your students become more efficient researchers.
TILT (University of Texas, Austin)
This is a great place to start. A fun, interactive library tutorial that will prepare your students to explore and do research in an online world.
Case Study Teaching in Science
A refereed national clearinghouse for case studies in teaching science courses, including many in chemistry, environmental sciences, and biology. The use of case studies develops students' skills in group learning, speaking, and critical thinking.
Not finding what you need? Email a reference librarian.
The Electrical Engineering Librarian
Danielle Kane is the Electrical Engineering Librarian at UCSC. She can help you with:
- Suggestions for biology books or journals for the library to purchase
- Questions or comments about the books or journals in the library
- Questions or concerns about library policies
- Library instruction in your classes, ranging from basic computer searching to the use of specialized resources in biology
- Provide a refresher on how to use the California Digital Library Databases, MELVYL or CRUZCAT
Danielle can be reached at kaneda@ucsc.edu,
phone x92816 or mail Danielle Kane, Science & Engineering Library.
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