Civil 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).

Handbooks give concise overviews of key topics, provide quick access to formulae and definitions, as well as other types of data and references. CRC's Civil Engineering Handbook (TA 151 .C57 1995) and the Standard Handbook for Civil Engineers (TA 151 .S8 2004) are two prominent civil engineering handbooks.

To see an in-depth overview of important research, take a look at Annual Reviews. CUA subscribes to Annual Reviews of Materials Research as well as other Annual Reviews of interest to engineering students.

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Books : Learning More

Books in the Engineering/Architecture/Math Library will give you more information about broad topics, like transportation engineering or building materials. Try searching for them in the WRLC Libraries Catalog.

Here are some ways to search:

• Select "Keyword" and try a search like precast and concrete. Remember to use and or or between your keywords. This search will return all of the records that have both the words precast and concrete, no matter what order they're in. If word order is important, just put quotation marks around the term: "precast concrete".
• The Subject Search uses Library of Congress Subject Headings. If you know a Subject Heading, like Water-supply engineering, 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 structur? and mechanics will return both "structural mechanics" and "mechanics of structures".
• You can also use the drop-down box to search for a Title, Author, or Call Number.

Searching the WRLC Libraries Catalog returns catalog records from all of the academic libraries in the Washington Research Library Consortium. CUA students and faculty can borrow materials from any 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 try browsing the shelves in the E/A/M Library. They are organized by subject with their call numbers, (e.g., books about physical geography will have call numbers starting with GB.)

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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 E/A/M Library subscribes to many engineering periodicals, including the ACI Materials Journal and ACI Structural Journal, and Civil Engineering magazine. To see if the E/A/M Library subscribes to a print or online journal, consult the Engineering Periodicals List.

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

ASCE: The CE Database contains records for all of the publications of the American Society of Civil Engineers since 1970, with full text from 1999.

• Type your term into the "All Fields" box and click on "search".
• You will see a list of article titles with the most recent articles shown first. Click on one to see the record.
• The record shows the authors of the article, which journal issue it appeared in, and an abstract of the article. You can also see a list of subject headings, which you can click to find more related articles.
• When you are looking at the record for the article, click on "Purchase this Article/Access full text", then download the PDF file to read the article.
• If the full text is not accessible, check the WRLC Libraries Catalog to see if CUA has the article in print.

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

• On 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 owns the material.

Some other indexes also available through ALADIN that may be helpful to you are: Applied Science and Technology Abstracts and Periodical Abstracts.

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/civil is the website of CUA's Department of Civil Engineering.

www.asce.org is the site of the American Society of Civil Engineers - news, events, and career information.

www.icivilengineer.com is "The Internet for Civil Engineers" with news and a web directory.

www.cenews.com is CE News Online, with news, job postings, and articles.

www.ce.gatech.edu/WWW-CE is the Civil Engineering Virtual Library and has links to many different civil engineering sites.

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Other Libraries

CUA students can borrow materials from any of the libraries in the Washington Research Library Consortium.

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

The Library of Congress allows the public to use its resources in the reading rooms, but not off the premises. Before visiting the Library of Congress, visit their Reader guide website thing.

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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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CONTRIBUTORS: Christina O'Grady, CUA Libraries Staff

All contents copyright © 2003- , The Catholic University Of America. All rights reserved.