Library Guides: ME 463: Engineering Design: Background & Benchmark Research

Understanding & Assessing Well Established Technologies and Processes

Knovel
Do you need to quickly learn about a well-establiahed technology or process? Searching in Knovel returns sections of engineering and science focused ebooks and other resources, with your search terms highlighted.
ENGnetBase
EngNetBase is another collection of engineering-focused eBooks that allows you to search the full text for relevant sections for your work.

Search for Books & Media Purdue owns
Select the "Books & Media" tab. This tool will search descriptive information (title, author, subjects, etc) about ebooks, books, and media owned by Purdue.

Engineering Village (Compendex & INSPEC Combined)
Locate research articles from the perspective of engineers and/or engineering academics.
Web of Science: Core Collection
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See how an idea has evolved over time in the literature by following references backwards and forwards.
Google Scholar
Searches for scholarly materials such as peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, preprints, abstracts and technical reports from broad areas of research. It includes a variety of academic publishers, professional societies, preprint repositories and universities, as well as scholarly articles available across the web.

More Purdue Libraries' Engineering & Technology Databases
Links to all of the Purdue Libraries' databases focused on Engineering and Technology topics.
Purdue Libraries Database A-Z List
Links to all of the Purdue Libraries' databases.

Effective patent searching involves more than using keywords. Save time and maximize your success by completing this module:

Public & Free sources:

Lens
Free, user-friendly, open access resource for world wide patent research. Years of coverage vary by country.
Espacenet
Worldwide patent search provided by the European Patent Office (EPO). Years of coverage dependent on country.
Google Patents
Perform a quick search for patents (not comprehensive - if a patent is located through this search engine it is recommended you search the patent number through the USPTO or Epacenet to ensure you have the most up-to-date version.)
United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)
Official database of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Full text searching from 1976-present, limited searching back to 1790.

Patents Databases (Purdue users only):

Derwent Innovations Index
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Provides enhancements to patent searching, such as simplified names and descriptions. Content includes patents from 40 world-wide patent-issuing authorities, including the U.S. 1963-present.

More Resources Available:

Purdue Libraries Patent Guide

Time is precious. Prepare to get the most out of your client and stakeholder meetings by establishing context for your design.

Information-Rich Engineering Design : Clarify Task/Establish the Context I: Users
Learn techniques for making the most of client and other stakeholder interviews. This page is courtesy of Prof. Megan Sapp Nelson.
Information-Rich Engineering Design : Clarify Task/Establish the Context II: Background
Researching the environment your design will exist in, and your design's users, will require different sources of information depending upon the nature of your project. Get started here. This page is courtesy of Prof. Michael Fosmire.

Contact:

3053C WALC

765-494-3649