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Mechanical Engineering

Your Librarian

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Aja Bettencourt-McCarthy
she/her
Contact:
CEAS Library
850 Baldwin Hall
513-556-5707
Website

Search Tips

Use these tips to begin your research:

  1. Identify keywords
    • Library search tools don't respond well to natural language searching (where you type in your whole question or sentence) instead, you need to identify only the most important words (keywords) in your research question or topic.
  2. Think of synonyms and related terms:
    • Library search tools are built to find exact matches so a search for "students" will only find resources with that term and won't find resources with the term "learners" even though they might be relevant to your topic. To ensure that you're not missing important information, take some time to think about synonyms and related terms for each of your keywords.
  3. Build a search query:
    • Create a search set of synonyms (use "OR" operator) for a concept
    • Combine search sets for concepts with "AND" operator
    • use quote marks " " to identify a phrase
    • Use truncation and wild cards to expand based on a word stem (e.g., nano* )
  4. Narrow your results:
    • Use refine or limit features to narrow your search results by date, material type, treatment, etc.
  5. Examine search result record to see what subjects have been assigned (if any) to the record.
  6. Try citation searching
    • Expand to related articles with shared citations
    • Use citation searching and browsing features, including sorting by # of times cited

Retrieving Materials

The following tips will help you to get access to resources and stay up-to-date with research in your field:

Find Article Full-Text

When searching in an article database, find the "UC Article Linker" icon Article Linker icon (or "Find Full Text" link in Google Scholar)

  • From Article Linker, check if your desired volume/issue is available online. Otherwise, search for a print copy in the Library Catalog.
  • If not online or in print, submit an Interlibrary Loan (also called ILLiad) request.  ILLiad may automatically fill the request form with your journal article's details.  NOTE: First time ILLiad users may need to complete a contact profile.
  • Use Full Text Journals to search by journal title and locate databases containing full-text.

Google Scholar - Register your UC Libraries access

Tell Google Scholar you are with UC so that search results provide links to UC-licensed full-text.  Access is indicated with a "Find Full-Text at UC" link.

  1. Go to Google Scholar
  2. Sign in to your Google account (or create one if needed)
  3. Click the icon in the upper left and select “Settings”
  4. Click on “Library Links”
  5. Search for "University of Cincinnati."
  6. Check the box next to "University of Cincinnati – Find Full-Text at UC” and click “Save”

LibKey Nomad - Browser Plug-In for Full Text

Download Nomad at www.libkeynomad.comAfter download, enter University of Cincinnati as your institution.  

When full-text is available, a "Download PDF” prompt appears in the lower left corner. 

Libkey Nomad graphic

Click the "Download PDF" prompt.  You may be asked to enter your UC Central Login.  Nomad will track down the article PDF or direct you to other options for full-text as needed.

Browzine for Keeping up with Journals

Browse UC journals by subject or journal title, and read the articles full-text. Build and organize your private collection of journals for review on a frequent basis, and download the BrowZine APP to sync all of your devices.

Writing & Publishing

The following resources will help you write with sources, whether you're writing for a class or considering publication:

Citation Resources

Publication Resources

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PO Box 210033 Cincinnati, Ohio 45221-0033

Phone: 513-556-1424

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