Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Research Guide

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

Encyclopedias & Textbooks : 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) or the Encyclopedia of Computer Science (QA 76.15 .E48 2000).

We also have several textbooks that explain basic concepts in the field, like McGraw-Hill's Standard Handbook for Electrical Engineers (TK 151 .S78 2000) and the CRC Computer Science and Engineering Handbook (QA 76 .C57315 1997).

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Books : Learning More

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

Select "Keyword" and try a search like computer and graphics. Remember to use and or or between your keywords. This search will return all of the records that have both the words computer and graphics, no matter what order they're in. If word order is important, just put quotation marks around the term: "computer graphics" or "solid state circuits".
The Subject Search uses Library of Congress Subject Headings. If you know a Subject Heading, like Electric Circuits, you can search for that. Click on the button that says "More Information" to see narrower or related terms that you can search for. The names of most computer programs or program languages are Subject Headings, e.g. Mathematica or C++.
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 digital? and watermark? will return both "digital watermarking" and "digitally watermarked".
You can also use the drop-down box to search for Title, Author, or Call Number, if you know them already.

Searching the WRLC Libraries Catalog returns catalog records for all of the academic libraries in the Washington Research Library Consortium. CUA students can borrow materials from any of these libraries. You can go to the library and 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 to you and can 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 EAM Library. Most of the Computer Science books are between call numbers QA 75.5 and QA 76.95. Electrical Engineering books have call numbers that start with TK, and Computer Engineering books (about hardware) are between call numbers TK 7885 and TK 7895.

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Citation Indexes and Periodicals : Getting Specific

Periodicals have current information about specific topics. The EAM Library subscribes to many engineering journals, including journals and transactions from the IEEE and the ACM. Subscriptions may be in print or online. 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 IEEE journals and transactions since 1998, as well as IEE publications going back to 1994.
For older articles, conference proceedings, or standards, check the WRLC Libraries Catalog (use the "Journal Title" search feature) to find out if we have a print copy.

ACM Digital Library: The Digital Library contains the full-text of articles published by the Association for Computing Machinery.

Type your term into the search box near the top of the window and click on "Search".
When you have a list of results, you can download a PDF file of the article, or click on the article title to see the abstract and other information about it (even a review of the article, sometimes).
In the records, you will see lists of index terms - click on one of these terms to see more articles about the subject.

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, 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/eecs is the website of CUA's Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

www.ieee.org is the website of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. has lots of resources for finding information, schools, and jobs.

www.iee.org, from the Institution of Electrical Engineers, also has news, events, and links.

www.acm.org is the website of the Association for Computing Machinery - lots of information and links, including online articles from publications like Queue and TechNews.

www.spie.org is SPIE Web -"the website for optics, photonics, and imaging".

www.eeel.nist.gov is the Electronics and Electrical Engineering Library of the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

www.vts.rdn.ac.uk/tutorial/elec is an online tutorial about how to find Electrical Engineering information on the internet.

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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.

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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/EECompSci.html

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MODIFIED: Sepetmber-01-2005