Biomedical Engineering Research Guide

Encyclopedias & Handbooks | Books | Citation Indexes & Periodicals
Web Links | Other Local Libraries | Contact us

Encyclopedias & Handbooks : Getting Started

For basic background information, try looking up encyclopedia articles in Access Science.

Or take a look in a print encyclopedia, like Van Nostrand's Scientific Encyclopedia (Q121 .V3 1995 in the Reference Section).

We also have several handbooks and textbooks such as Enderle's Introduction to Biomedical Engineering (R 856 .I47 2000), or McGraw-Hill's Standard Handbook of Biomedical Engineering & Design (R 856.15 .S73 2003). Handbooks give concise overviews of key topics as well as quick access to formulae and definitions, as well as other types of data and references. Browse the shelves between call numbers R 856 and R 857 to find more.

To see a comprehensive overview of important research, take a look at Annual Reviews. CUA subscribes to Annual Reviews of Biomedical Engineering, as well as Annual Reviews about other biological and physical topics that may be of interest.

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Books : Learning More

Books in the Engineering/Architecture and Math Library will give you more information about broad topics, like Medical Imaging or Biomaterials. Try searching for them in the WRLC Libraries Catalog. Here are some ways to search:

Try a Keyword Search like human and locomotion. Remember to use and or or between your keywords. This search will return all of the records that have both the words human and locomotion, no matter what order they're in. If word order is important, just put quotation marks around the term: "human locomotion"
The Subject Search uses Library of Congress Subject Headings. If you know a Subject Heading, like Biomechanics, you can search for that. Click on the button that says "More Information" to see narrower or related terms that you can search for.
On the Search Results screen, select "Publish Date Descending" from the "Sort by:" drop-down menu to see the most recent books first.
Remember that words may be in singular or plural form, depending on how the author used them. With a Keyword Search you can use a ? to truncate words- a search for tissue? and engineering will return both "tissue engineering" and "engineering of tissues".
You can also use the drop-down box to search for Title, Author, or Call Number.

The WRLC Libraries Catalog has catalog records for all of the academic libraries in the Washington Research Library Consortium. CUA students can borrow materials from all of these libraries. You can go to any of these libraries to borrow the material directly, or click the Request button at the top of the catalog record and fill out the form to make a "CLS request". The material will be sent for you to be picked up at Mullen Library (or viewed on the web, for articles).

If you only want to see books in the CUA libraries, you can limit your search by selecting "Catholic" from the drop-down menu on the catalog search page. This option is only available for keyword and title searches.

You can also browse the shelves in the EAM Library. Most of our Biomedical Engineering books are shelved by call number between QH and RM.

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Citation Indexes and Periodicals : Getting Specific

Periodicals have current information about specific topics. Journals provide a record of engineering experiments and research. The Eng/Arch Library subscribes to many engineering journals, including the Journal of Biomechanics and Medical & Biological Engineering & Computing. To see if the Eng/Arch Library subscribes to a print or online journal, consult the Engineering Periodical List.

To find information in journals, first use a citation index (these indexes are available off-campus through the ALADIN website):

IEEE All Society Periodicals: This database indexes all of the journals and conference proceedings of the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.) and IEE (Institution of Electrical Engineers), including the IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering.

Use the Basic Search page to search for Title, Author, Publication Name, Abstract, Index Terms, or Author Affiliation.
CUA's subscription provides access to the full-text of journals and transactions since 1998, and IEE publications going back to 1994.
For older articles, conference proceedings, or standards, check the WRLC Libraries Catalog (use a "Title" or "Journal Title" search) to find out if we have a print copy.

Compendex: This database indexes over 5000 engineering journals, conferences and reports.

In the basic search page, type in your term. Select "all fields" or "subject/title/abstract" from the drop-down menu for a subject search.
You can also search by Author, Title, Serial Title, and other things - take a look at the drop-down menu.
Engineering Village automatically truncates your search terms, that is, a search for Engineering returns Engineering, Engineer, Engineers, and Engineered.
Some records have links to full-text articles (look for the blue 'Find It' button at the bottom) but if not, check the WRLC Libraries Catalog or Electronic Journal Title Finder to see if CUA subscribes.

MEDline: Provided by the National Library of Medicine/National Institute of Health, MEDline is a large database of medical information, including medical engineering and experimental medicine.

To search MEDline, make sure the "map term to subject headings" box is checked, and enter your term.
You will then see a list of related terms. Select the one you want to search for, then click the green "Continue" button at the top.
You will see a list of narrower aspects of your term. Select the ones you want, then click "Continue" again. If you don't select terms, all subheadings will be automatically included.
You can limit your search to articles about humans by clicking the box at the bottom of the search page, or click on the "Limit" button at the top for more options.
When you see a list of results, click on "external link resolver" to find links to full-text, or check the WRLC Libraries Catalog or Electronic Journal Title Finder for library holdings.

HighWire: At this site, you can search MEDline at the same time as you search HighWire, a large collection of journals that focus on science and medicine.

Try a keyword search or browse specific topics with the TopicMap feature.
The results page will indicate whether the full-text is freely available. If not, check the WRLC Libraries Catalog or Electronic Journal Title Finder.

Some more general indexes, also available through ALADIN, that may be helpful are: BasicBIOSIS, Electronic Collections Online, and ArticleFirst.

If another school in the WRLC owns a journal that CUA doesn't, click the Request button in the catalog record and enter the Volume number, Article Title, Author, and Page Number to have the article scanned and made available to you on the web.

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Web Links : Exploring

engineering.cua.edu/biomedical is the website of CUA's Department of Biomedical Engineering, and has information about the program and links to the homepages and research of the faculty.

www.bmes.org is from the Biomedical Engineering Society. Their site has lots of information about the Society, and Biomedical Engineering in general.

www.bmenet.org is the Biomedical Engineering Network - news, job postings, and links.

The National Library of Medicine's Visible Human Project at www.nlm.nih.gov/research/visible/visible_human.html is an interesting anatomy project.

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Other Libraries

Some of the books and journals listed in the WRLC Libraries Catalog are across the street in the Nursing/Biology Library, in 212 Gowan Hall.

You may also find useful material in the libraries of other local schools, like Howard University or the University of Maryland (CUA students do not have borrowing privileges at these schools).

The National Library of Medicine, the world's largest medical library, is nearby in Bethesda, MD. The public can use NLM's resources in their reading room (but not off the premises).

The Library of Congress also allows the public to use its resources in the reading rooms, but not off the premises.

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Contact Us

Need a hand finding information, or just want to learn more about research in the Engineering/Architecture and Math Library? Contact us at 202-319-5167.

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URL: http://libraries.cua.edu/engcoll/Biomedical.html

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MODIFIED: May-06-2009