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How To Find Out in the Built Environment

This guide is aimed primarily at students and staff of Heriot-Watt University, however it may also be of use to anyone looking for information on the Built Environment.

Whilst all e-resources mentioned below are accessible from Heriot-Watt campus, accessibility from off-campus may vary. For Distance Learning and Off Campus Access, see: http://www.hw.ac.uk/library/distance.html. Details of the Heriot-Watt Virtual Private Network (also known as HW Connectra, VPN, HW portal) service, which is the best way to access materials from off-campus, are at: http://www.hw.ac.uk/library/hwvpn.html

CONTENTS

• INTRODUCTION
• WHAT DO YOU WANT TO KNOW?
• MAKING A LITERATURE SEARCH
• TAKING REFERENCES
• GUIDEBOOKS
• ENCYCLOPAEDIAS & DICTIONARIES
• HANDBOOKS
• BOOKS and eBOOKS
• JOURNALS (Print & Electronic)
•     Indexes of journals
      Heriot-Watt University Library periodicals and electronic journals
      A Selection of General interest periodicals
      A Selection of Built Environment industry news and trade journals
      A Selection of Scholarly periodicals
      Periodicals in other libraries
      Open Access journals
• FINDING ARTICLES
• REPOSITORIES
• INTERNET SEARCHING & RESOURCES
• CURRENT AWARENESS: KEEPING UP TO DATE
• NEWS
• BLOGS
• CONFERENCE PAPERS
• TECHNICAL REPORTS
• GOVERNMENT PUBLICATIONS & INFORMATION
• STATISTICS
• STANDARDS
• PATENTS
• DIGITAL IMAGES
• THESES and RESEARCH IN PROGRESS
• TRANSLATIONS
• SOFTWARE
• TEACHING AND LEARNING RESOURCES
• MEETINGS, CONFERENCES, COURSES, etc.
• FUNDING
• PROFESSIONAL SOCIETIES AND INSTITUTIONS
• JOBS
• REFERENCE
• CONTACTING THE LIBRARY

INTRODUCTION

Whether you're looking for information for a project or dissertation, or just some facts, figures, or addresses, this guide should point you in the right direction. The guide is not exhaustive, but the main sources of information, and especially those available in Heriot-Watt University Library, are listed. Other useful sources on related subjects may be found in the various other How to Find Out guides published by the Library.

Depending on your needs, you may only need to consult one or two of the most appropriate sources listed below in order to find some references on your topic. 

Remember that when you use a subscription-based service or database, you may print or download a reasonable quantity of information for your personal, non-commercial use. You may not systematically print or download substantial quantities, or distribute information to unauthorized third parties.

If you want further advice or assistance, please ask, or contact one of the Subject Librarians, or email the Library's helpdesk at libhelp@hw.ac.uk, or fill out a form.

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO KNOW?

Summaries, general information, etc
Encyclopaedias, books, and handbooks may give you enough information. There are sections on each of these sources in the following pages.

The very latest information
See the sections on Current Awareness: Keeping Up To Date, News, Blogs or Theses and Research in Progress.

Detailed information
The best sources of more detailed information are usually articles appearing in journals, published conference proceedings, reports, and sometimes patents or standards. There are sections on how to find all of these.

MAKING A LITERATURE SEARCH

There are various ways of searching the literature for information on a topic. It is worth thinking about exactly what you are looking for, and where you are most likely to find it. If you need help at any point in this process, contact your Subject Librarian. Keep in mind the following:

• Remember that it takes time and effort to find information.
• Define your subject and your objectives.
• Discuss your topic with your supervisor who may be able to suggest various starting points.
• Look at any information already found as it may lead to further material.
• Decide which time period should be covered by the search.
• Decide how comprehensive the search will be. Do you want everything on your subject? In which case go through each of the sections in this leaflet systematically. Or can you exclude some sections and types of material?
• Look through the introductions to each section in this guide and decide which sources are likely to suit your needs.
• In each section the more general sources are normally listed first. If these are not specific enough, look in the more selective sources following.
• Always read any help or explanations of how to use a particular source.
• Think about your search profile - the keywords, subject headings, related terms, etc.
• Keep systematic records, and follow the advice in the Taking References section below.
• For more hints about making literature searches, see the following:

371.3 RUM
Rumsey. How to find information.

371.3 POT
Potter. Doing postgraduate research

810.61 RUD
Rudestam. Surviving your dissertation: A comprehensive guide to content and process

371.3 NAO
Naoum. Dissertation research and writing for construction students

For internet training courses, see:

TONIC: The Online Netskills Interactive Course
http://www.netskills.ac.uk/TONIC
This is a free to use internet course designed for those new to the internet.

Intute Virtual Training Suite
http://www.vts.intute.ac.uk/

Remember! If you have any problems with your literature search, ask a member of the Library staff for help.

TAKING REFERENCES

Note all references in full as you find them, even if you are not sure how useful they might be. Also, keep a note of where you find your references - you may need this if you apply for an inter-library loan. Keep your references in a database or notebook, or use services such as EndNote. EndNote is available for postgraduate students and staff from the IT Department. EndNoteWeb (a lite version of the package) is freely available to all members of Heriot Watt, and can be accessed within the Web of Knowledge. You can register for EndNoteWeb. Another free citation service is CiteUlike.

Proper referencing is essential to avoid plagiarism.  Plagiarism is the act of taking the ideas, writings or inventions of another person and using these as if they were one's own, whether intentionally or not. Plagiarism occurs where there is no acknowledgement that the writings or ideas belong to or have come from another source.

The University has produced a Student guide to Plagiarism.  This gives a clear definition of plagiarism, examples of how to avoid plagiarism and how to reference the work of others:

Student Guide to Plagiarism
http://www.hw.ac.uk/registry/resources/PlagiarismGuide.pdf

The correct reference for a book includes author, initials, title, edition (if not first), place of publication, publisher and year of publication. e.g.

Sime, J.D. Safety in the built environment. London: Spon, 2005.

The correct reference for a periodical article includes author and title of article, periodical title, volume and part number, year and pages, e.g.

Stamp, G. Clouded vision. Architects Journal V.177(9), 1999, 25-31.

For further details on making references and citations see:

810.61 PEA
PEAR: Cite them right : the essential guide to referencing and plagiarism

British Standard BS 1629:1989. Recommendations for references to published materials.

British Standard BS 5605:1990. Recommendations for citing and referencing material.

Referencing
http://www.learnhigher.org.uk/site/index.php
A guide to referencing

List of style manuals
http://www.dianahacker.com/resdoc/manual.html
This has information on MLA, used in English and the humanities; APA, used in psychology and the social sciences; Chicago, used in history and some humanities; and CSE, used in biology and other sciences.

Quick Reference
810.61 CHI
Chicago Manual of Style

See also:

Referencing

http://www.northumbria.ac.uk/sd/central/library/resources/referencing/

Citing References
http://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/library/citing_references/citing_refs_main.html
Guides from Bournemouth University

Citing and Referencing with the Harvard System
http://www.brad.ac.uk/library/elecinfo/harvard.php

For guidance on making references and citations to electronic information see:

810.61 WAL
Columbia guide to online style

GUIDEBOOKS

You may want to use a guidebook to get a broad overview of the available information sources. These published guides give sources of information on particular subjects, just like this How to Find Out guide. They may be more comprehensive, and will list sources not necessarily held in Heriot-Watt University Library.

Quick Reference
620 MAC
MacLeod. Information sources in engineering

Quick Reference
620 LOR
Lord. Guide to information sources in engineering

Quick Reference
720 NUR
Nurcombe. Information sources in architecture and construction

ENCYCLOPAEDIAS AND DICTIONARIES

Encyclopaedias and dictionaries are useful for getting a basic outline of a subject, and for finding keywords and subject terms which can be used when searching other sources. Examples are:

Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org
The free online encyclopedia

Scholarpedia
http://www.scholarpedia.org/
A peer reviewed encyclopedia

Quick Reference
503 MCG
McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology

Quick Reference
690 SCO
Scott. Dictionary of building

Quick Reference
690 COW
Cowan. Dictionary of architectural and building technology

Quick Reference
692.8 POW
Powell-Smith. A building contract dictionary

HANDBOOKS

If you're looking for specific data, the following handbooks may provide the information you need:

696 CHU
Chudley: Building construction handbook

526.9 BRI
Brinker: The surveying handbook

BOOKS and eBOOKS

To find books on a subject you can look in the catalogues of various libraries.  It is a good idea to work outwards from those immediately available to those that may have to be obtained elsewhere or through Inter-Library Loans.

Heriot-Watt Library Catalogue
Use the catalogue and follow the instructions which appear on the screen. Books on the built environment may be shelved at a variety of classnumbers, including 690 and 711. It is usually better to use the catalogue than to browse round the shelves. Full text eBooks are indicated in the Catalogue by the following graphic:

Other library catalogues
You can search the catalogues of Edinburgh University Library and the National Library of Scotland. See also our Other Library Catalogues page.

For access information see our Access Other Libraries web pages or our leaflet "Edinburgh Libraries", and ask at the Service desk for a letter of introduction if necessary.

Google Book Search
http://books.google.co.uk/
Search the full text of books to find ones that interest you.

Amazon.co.uk
http://www.amazon.co.uk/
The UK branch of the well-known Internet bookshop has a searchable database of books in print.

British Library Integrated Catalogue
http://catalogue.bl.uk
The on-line catalogue of the UK's national library.

RICS Scotland Library
http://www.rics.org/RICSservices/RICSLibraryandInformationServices/RICSScotlandLibrary/
The library is located at: 9 Manor Place, Edinburgh, Tel: 0131 225 7078

BRE Bookshop
http://www.brebookshop.com/
This online bookshop from the BRE contains details of 40,000 publications from publishers and professional organisations

RIBA Bookshops
http://www.ribabookshops.com/

Thomas Telford Bookshop
http://www.thomastelford.com/books/

Pearson Education Bookstore
http://www.pearsoned.co.uk/bookshop/subject.asp?item=6252&affid=EVL

If you find details of a book you wish to read, but it is unavailable either in Heriot-Watt Library or in a local library, you may use the Inter-Library Loans Service to get hold of it.

JOURNALS (PRINT & ELECTRONIC)

Indexes of Journals
The number of different journal titles is enormous, but they are an excellent source of up to date information. To find out which periodicals are published in your subject area use the guidebooks mentioned earlier, and also:

Journal Info
http://jinfo.lub.lu.se/
Information about 18,000 journals, including where they are indexed, alternative Open Access titles, etc.

PubList.com
http://www.publist.com/
PubList.com is a directory of information about more than 150,000 publications and more than 8000 newspapers around the world.

Genamics JournalSeek
http://journalseek.net/index.htm
Genamics JournalSeek is the largest completely categorized database of freely available journal information available on the internet.

CUFTS Journal Search
http://cufts2.lib.sfu.ca/MaintTool/public/search
Can also be used to find out which databases include particular journals

ticTOCs
http://www.tictocs.ac.uk
Latest Tables of Contents of over 11,000 journals, plus links to home pages.

SUNCAT
http://www.suncat.ac.uk/
The Serials UNion CATalogue for the UK research community helps to locate serials held in the UK. The catalogue contains information on both print and electronic serials, including journals, periodicals, newspapers, newsletters, magazines, proceedings, annual reports and other publications of a continuing nature.

Journal Citation Reports
Accessed via: ISI Web of Knowledge
http://www.hw.ac.uk/library/websci.html
Journal Citation Reports is a comprehensive and unique resource that allows you to evaluate and compare journals using citation data drawn from over 8,000 scholarly and technical journals from more than 3,300 publishers in over 60 countries.

Quick Reference
011.05 WIL
Willings Press Guide

Quick Reference
011.05 NOB
Nobari. Directory of periodicals online

Heriot-Watt University Library periodicals and electronic journals
Built Environment journals available in Heriot-Watt University Library are listed in our Journals List and also the Catalogue. Print Built Environment journals are normally shelved at 690 on Level 4 but relevant periodicals may be shelved in other sections.

A couple of general interest periodicals:

Periodicals 620
Engineering Magazine
http://www.engineeringnet.co.uk/

The Engineer Online
http://www.theengineer.co.uk/

Here is a Selection of Built Environment industry news and trade journals:
Some journals which give news of the construction industry, with information on business and companies, are listed below. Find others through our Journals List which lists electronic and print journals.

Periodicals 690
Architects Journal

Periodicals 690
Building
http://www.building.co.uk/

Building Design & Construction
http://www.bdcnetwork.com/

Periodicals 690
Building Services Journal
http://www.bsjonline.co.uk/

Periodicals 690
Contract Journal
http://www.contractjournal.com/

Periodicals 690
Energy in Buildings and Industry

Engineered Systems
http://www.esmagazine.com/

EGi (Estates Gazette Interactive)
http://www.egi.co.uk/

Periodicals 690
Housing Scotland

Periodicals 690
Inside Housing
http://www.insidehousing.co.uk/

Modern Building Services
http://www.modbs.co.uk/

Periodicals 690
Planning
http://www.planningresource.co.uk/

Periodicals 690
Planning Aid for Scotland
http://www.planning-aid-scotland.org.uk/

Periodicals 690
Property Week
http://www.property-week.co.uk/

Periodicals 690
RIBA Journal

Periodicals 690
Scottish Planner

Here is a Selection of scholarly periodicals:

There are many periodicals of a more academic nature.  Some relevant titles are listed below, but more will be found through our Journals List which lists electronic and print journals.

Periodicals 690
Building Research and Information
http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~content=t713694730

Periodicals 690
Construction Management & Economics
http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~content=t713664979

Periodicals 690
Environment and Planning
http://www.envplan.com/ephome.html

Periodicals 690
European planning studies
http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~content=t713417253

Facilities
http://hw.lib.ed.ac.uk/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=146903

Periodicals 690
Facilities Management

Periodicals 624
Geotechnique
http://hw.lib.ed.ac.uk/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=145765

Periodicals 690
Housing Studies
http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~content=t713424129

Periodicals 690
International Journal of Urban and Regional Research
http://hw.lib.ed.ac.uk/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=148592

Periodicals 624
Journal of Construction Engineering and Management (ASCE)
http://hw.lib.ed.ac.uk/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=146002

Periodicals 330
Journal of Environmental Planning and Management
http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~content=t713429786

Periodicals 624
Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities
http://hw.lib.ed.ac.uk/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=146013

Periodicals 690
Journal of Property Investment and Finance
http://hw.lib.ed.ac.uk/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=23006

Periodicals 690
Journal of Property Research
http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~content=t713735323

Periodicals 690
Journal of social policy
http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayJournal?jid=JSP

Periodicals 624
Magazine of concrete research
http://hw.lib.ed.ac.uk/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=145788

Periodicals 690
Planning theory and practice
http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~content=t713624517

Periodicals 624
Proceedings - Institution of Civil Engineers: Civil engineering
http://www.atypon-link.com/TELF/loi/cien

Periodicals 624
Proceedings - Institution of Civil Engineers: Construction Materials
http://www.atypon-link.com/TELF/loi/coma

Periodicals 624
Proceedings - Institution of Civil Engineers: Management, Procurement and Law
http://www.atypon-link.com/TELF/loi/mpal

Periodicals 690
Property Management
http://hw.lib.ed.ac.uk/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=148538

Periodicals 690
Structural Survey
http://hw.lib.ed.ac.uk/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=148548

Periodicals 690
Town Planning Review
http://hw.lib.ed.ac.uk/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=146033

Periodicals 690
Urban Affairs Review
http://hw.lib.ed.ac.uk/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=146582

Periodicals 690
Urban Studies
http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~content=t713449163

In addition over 1,000 Elsevier Science journals are available, including the the following which are of interest to Building Engineering and Surveying:

ScienceDirect
http://www.hw.ac.uk/library/scidir.html
 Advanced Cement Based Materials
 Advances in Engineering Software
 Applied Acoustics
 Applied Ocean Research
 Automation in Construction
 Building and Environment
 Cement and Concrete Composites
 Cement and Concrete Research
 Cities
 Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering
 Computers and Geotechnics
 Computers & Structures
 Construction and Building Materials
 Design Studies
 Ecological Engineering
 Energy and Buildings
 Engineering Analysis with Boundary Elements
 Engineering Failure Analysis
 Engineering Fracture Mechanics
 Engineering Structures
 Envoronmental Impact Assessment Review
 Finite Elements in Analysis and Design
 Fire Safety Journal
 Fusion Engineering and Design
 Geotextiles and Geomembranes
 International Journal of Fatigue
 International Journal of Impact Engineering
 International Journal of Project Management
 International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Science & Geomechanics Abstracts
 International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences
 International Journal of Solids and Structures
 Journal of Constructional Steel Research
 Journal of Hazardous Materials
 Journal of Safety Research
 Journal of Terramechanics
 Journal of Wind Engineering and Industrial Aerodynamics
 Landscape and Urban Planning
 Marine Structures
 Mechanics of Materials
 Mechanics Research Communications
 Progress in Planning
 Socio-Economic Planning Sciences
 Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering
 Solar Energy
 Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells
 Structural Safety
 Theoretical and Applied Fracture Mechanics
 Thin-Walled Structures
 Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology

There is also:

Business Source Elite
http://search.ebscohost.com/
Provides access to the full text of over 1,000 academic and general business periodicals which includes approximately 450 peer-reviewed publications. In addition to this, Business Source Elite provides bibliographic information and abstracts for articles in approximately 1,800 journals.

Periodicals in other Libraries
If a relevant title is not held, it may be possible to obtain it elsewhere in Edinburgh, in the National Library of Scotland, or in Edinburgh University Library. Lists of periodicals held in these libraries are kept at the Inter Library Loans desk, and their holdings are also available through SALSER (Scottish Academic Libraries Serials).

Open Access Journals

Directory of open access journals
http://www.doaj.org/

This service covers free, full text, quality controlled scientific and scholarly journals. It aims to cover all subjects and languages. There are over 1000 journals in the directory covering all subjects.

Open J-Gate
http://www.openjgate.org/
A directory of open access journals

FINDING ARTICLES

There are many sources for finding articles which have been published on any given topic. If you need help in using any of them, please contact a Subject Librarian.

Some of the sources listed in the following sections will overlap in coverage with others, but each also indexes unique items. Depending on how complete you want your search to be, you may need to look in several sources.

Remember that availability of full text can depend on subscriptions to individual journal titles. Check the journals list for details. If you find an article you wish to read, but it's unavailable either electronically or in print, you may want to use the Inter-Library Loans Service to get hold of it.

Some services require different usernames and passwords, but most do not, if you are on-campus or are using the Virtual Private Network. 

You can search across several of the databases listed below through the Selected Database Cross-search (Search50).  Whilst search50 doesn’t offer the sophisticated and flexible searching available through the individual database interfaces, it’s an excellent starting point, especially if you don’t know where to begin searching for a topic.

See our list of Construction Management & Surveying, Bibliographic Databases

Google Scholar
http://scholar.google.com/
Use Google Scholar to find articles from a wide variety of academic publishers, professional societies, preprint repositories and universities, as well as scholarly articles available across the web.

CSA Illumina
http://www.csa1.co.uk/htbin/dbrng.cgi?username=chest39&access=chest3979
CSA provide access to a number of databases which index many thousands of journals. Some of these databases are mentioned separately in the list below. They can be cross-searched at the same time through the CSA Illumina service.

ZETOC
http://zetoc.mimas.ac.uk/
With almost 15 million article and conference records, this database covers every imaginable subject in science, technology, medicine, engineering, business, law, finance and the humanities.

ScienceDirect
http://www.sciencedirect.com/
The ScienceDirect service is a database for scientific research that contains the full text of more than 2,000 Elsevier Science journals in the life, physical, medical, technical, and social sciences available through the Internet. The database of more than 6 million references can be searched.

IngentaConnect
http://www.ingentaconnect.com/
This service is a large journal article database. It gives free access to the article summaries of over 28,000 publications, and the full-text of some publications. It covers all disciplines.

ISI Web of Knowledge
http://isiknowledge.com/
The Web of Knowledge provides access to the Web of Science databases where you can find details of periodical literature (i.e. articles), details of papers which have been presented at conferences, and details of some reports and letters which have appeared in the periodicals indexed.  You can search the databases using a variety of different fields such as topic, titles, authors, journal titles, author's addresses, and so on. Journal Citation Reports is also availabel via the ISI Web of Knowledge.

COMPENDEX (via Engineering Village 2)
http://www.engineeringvillage2.org/
Compendex, available through the Engineering Village 2, is the most comprehensive interdisciplinary engineering information database in the world, with over 8 million summaries of journal articles and conference proceedings. It indexes over 5,000 international publications on most engineering subjects. It includes abstracts (summaries) of the contents of articles. Coverage includes literature from all major engineering societies, commercial publishers and research and development organisations, as well as from university presses and government agencies.

Applied Science and Technology Full Text
http://hwwilsonweb.com/
Indexes 335 international English language periodicals in the applied sciences and technology, including air conditioning and heating, the construction industry, and acoustics

Abstracts in New Technologies and Engineering (ANTE)
http://www.csa1.co.uk/htbin/dbrng.cgi?username=chest39&access=chest3979  
Indexes 450 technical and applied science journals, with an emphasis on UK publications.
Accessed via CSA Illumina

Scitopia
http://www.scitopia.org/scitopia/
Scitopia cross-searches over 3.5 million documents, plus patents and government data, from a number of professional societies, including the ASCE.

TechXtra
http://www.techxtra.ac.uk/
Find articles from numerous databases via TechXtra which indexes over 4 million items.

informaworld
http://www.informaworld.com/
This is a service from Taylor & Francis which gives access to several titles covering property management, urban development, etc.

MetaPress
http://www.metapress.com/
You can search several thousand scholarly publications from numerous leading publishers at this site.

ICONDA (International Construction DAtabase)
http://www.hw.ac.uk/library/ovid.html
Contains 500,000 citations to the worldwide literature on urban and regional planning, construction, and civil engineering. Covers structural engineering, construction equipment and materials, project management, building maintenance, financial planning, bridges, etc.
Accessed via OvidSP.

Construction and Building Abstracts (CBA)
http://www.cbaweb.co.uk/
This database indexes over 400 journals of interest to the planning and construction industry. It covers planning, civil engineering and construction technology, and architecture, including the entire process from briefing, design, construction, maintenence and rehabilitation, to demolition of structures. Also covered are topics such as marketing, quality assurance, legislation and health and safety, law and management when they relate to the construction industry. CBA concentrates on UK sources, and is co-produced by Ove Arup Partnership.

iLink RICS Library: Centre of Business Information for the Property Industry (RICS Library Direct)
http://194.154.180.3/uhtbin/cgisirsi.exe/0/0/0/49
Provides Internet access to the RICS Library catalogue. It indexes over 100,000 items held in the Library, including books, RICS publications and guidance notes, articles, law cases, video and audio tapes, property market reports, and statutory publications.  It covers such subjects as building and construction (contracts, control, defects and failure, projects, rehabilitation, services, etc.), commercial property, energy, housing, project management, quantity surveying, rating and valuation, urban renewal, etc.

ICE Virtual Library
http://jisc.iceknowledge.com/default.aspx
The ICE's Virtual Library gives access to the largest repository of full text civil engineering papers in the world. From here you can search the ICE's archive of technical papers from 1836 to the present day, viewing papers on screen in fully printable form.

Thomas Telford Journals
http://www.thomastelford.com/journals/
The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) is the world's longest established professional engineering body.  Thomas Telford Ltd. is the knowledge business of the ICE, publishing authoritative journals featuring new research and practical case-studies from across civil engineering.

CSA / ASCE Civil Engineering Abstracts 
http://www.hw.ac.uk/library/csa.html
Covers civil engineering and its complementary fields. Sources covered include over 3,000 periodicals, conference proceedings, technical reports, trade journal/newsletter items, patents, books, and press releases.
Accessed via CSA Illumina

ASCE's Civil Engineering Database
http://www.asce.org/publications/cedatabase.cfm
The Civil Engineering Database (CEDB) provides access to over 90,000 bibliographic and abstracted records. It is designed to provide easy bibliographic access to all ASCE publications. The database covers ASCE documents published since 1973. It provides access to all the ASCE journals, conference proceedings, books, standards, manuals, magazines, and newsletters. The database can be searched by a variety of fields. Topics covered include: aerospace engineering, architectural engineering, bridges, cold regions, computer practices, construction, earthquake engineering, education, engineering mechanics, environmental engineering, forensic engineering, geotechnical engineering, highways, hydrology, hydraulics, irrigation and drainage, management, materials engineering, structural engineering, transportation, urban planning, water resources, waterway, port, coastal and ocean engineering. Access to the full text of ASCE journals indexed in this database is provided via the ASCE Research Library.

Emerald
http://www.emeraldinsight.com/
This database indexes and provides full text access to over 100 journals covering a spectrum of management disciplines plus a number of engineering, applied science and technology titles including ones on property management and TQM.

Construction Management Abstracts
http://www.arcom.ac.uk/abstracts.html
Made available by Association of Researchers in Construction Management (ARCOM), this indexes several leading Construction Management journals,

Business Source Elite
http://www.hw.ac.uk/library/ebsco.html
Provides access to the full text of over 1,000 academic and general business periodicals which includes approximately 450 peer-reviewed publications. In addition to this, Business Source Elite provides bibliographic information and abstracts for articles in approximately 1,800 journals.
Accessed via EbscoHost

CSA Social Sciences
http://www.hw.ac.uk/library/csa.html
CSA provide access to a number of databases in the subject area of Social Science, including Sociological Abstracts and Social Services Abstracts. These databases cover international publications including journals and other serials publications, plus conference papers, books, and dissertations. Major subject areas include: Community development; Culture and social structure; Demography and human biology; Environmental interactions; Evaluation research; Family and social welfare; History and theory of sociology; Management and complex organizations; Mass phenomena and political interactions; Methodology and research technology; Policy, planning, forecast and speculation; Radical sociology; Rural and urban sociology; Economic development; Social development; Social differentiation; Social psychology, group interaction, poverty and homelessness.
Accessed via CSA Illumina

CSA Environmental Sciences & Pollution Management
http://www.hw.ac.uk/library/csa.html
Subject areas covered include: Air quality; Environmental engineering; Environmental impact statements (U.S.); Hazardous waste; Pollution (land, air, water, noise, solid waste, radioactive); Risk assessment; Safety science; Toxicology & toxic emissions; Water pollution; Waste management; and Water resource issues.
Accessed via CSA Illumina

IBSS: International Bibliography of the Social Sciences
http://www.hw.ac.uk/library/ibss.html
The International Bibliography of the Social Sciences.
IBSS is one of the largest and most comprehensive social science datasets in the world, covering core disciplines of economics, sociology, politics and anthropology. It contains bibliographic references (but not abstracts) of articles, reports, papers, discussions, editorials, notes, reviews and other items from over 2,300 regularly covered journals, 1,000 less regularly covered journals and 6000 books per year.
Accessed via EbscoHost

British Humanities Index
http://www.hw.ac.uk/library/csa.html
Indexes newspapers and periodicals in the humanities with selected non-specialist articles in science and technology. Several construction titles are indexed, and this is a good source of current affairs information.
Accessed via CSA Illumina

Construction Information Service
CIS provides fundamental industry information and legislation, as well as additional sector material.
Access via the SBE Resource Centre

Edinburgh College of Art:  Environmental Studies Library
APId (Architectural Publications Index on disc)
APId is the electronic equivalent of the printed Architectural Publications Index which is produced by the British Architectural Library at the Royal Institute of British Architects. APId indexes articles from over 400 periodicals on architecture published in some 45 countries from 1978 onwards.  The subject coverage of APId includes every aspect of architecture and allied arts, both current and historical, together with construction technology, interior design, environmental studies, landscape, planning, conservation and urban history.

Edinburgh College of Art:  Environmental Studies Library
Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals
The Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals is one of several networked databases accessible to staff and students of Edinburgh College of Art via the Library's ECALIN (ECA Library Information Network) service.  The Avery Index database is a comprehensive index to the current literature of architecture and design, produced at the Avery Architectural and Fine Arts  Library at Columbia University. The database indexes over 700 international periodicals (from 1977 onwards), more than 75% of which are not indexed elsewhere. Subjects covered include architectural and interior design, history and practice of architecture, city planning, landscape architecture and historical preservation.

Urbadisc
Contains various databases, including Acompline and Urbaline. This was a source for urban planning and policy in the UK and Europe. All aspects of urban studies and policies are covered, including town and country planning, sociology, population, housing, social planning and servives, traffic engineering, transportation, and local government. Material indexed in the database includes books and journals, statistics, reports, government publications, theses, etc. This database is available on CD-ROM. To use it, ask at the Library Service Desk.

School of the Built Environment Resource Centre
Planning Exchange: Planex
A database compiled by the IDOX Information Service covering all subject areas of local policy and governance.
Access is available via Margaret Inglis, SBE Resource Centre

School of the Built Environment Resource Centre
Barbour Property & Facilities Manager
A full text database that covers technical information, legislation, journal articles, etc.

Other databases of a more general nature can assist in searches for conference papers, dissertations, reports etc. For more details contact the Subject Librarians.

REPOSITORES

Repositories are collections of electronic documents. They are sometimes called e-print repositories, archives or institutional repositories.

Repositories allow authors to deposit copies of output in a publicly accessible resource (often in conjunction with publishing in peer reviewed journals or other published sources).  Journal articles found in digital repositories may be pre-prints - a term used to refer to an article at any stage prior to publication - from peer-reviewed and awaiting publication to documents not yet submitted to a journal for consideration. As well as journal articles, digital repositories may also include theses, conference papers, working papers and learning & teaching materials.

OpenDOAR
http://www.opendoar.org/
A directory of open access repositories.

OAISter
http://oaister.umdl.umich.edu/o/oaister/

A collection of freely available, academically-oriented digital resources.

Scirus
http://www.scirus.com/
As well as searching selected scientific websites, Scirus also searches a number of digital repositories.

TechXtra
http://www.techxtra.ac.uk/
TechXtra searches across a number of digital repositories.

Intute: Repository Search
http://www.intute.ac.uk/irs/

This searches across more than 90 UK academic eprints repositories.

SPARC list of institutional repositories
http://www.arl.org/sparc/repos/ir.html
A list, organised by country

ROS: The Research Output Service
http://www.ros.hw.ac.uk
ROS is Heriot-Watt University's institutional repository.

INTERNET SEARCHING & RESOURCES

The popular Internet search engines, though very useful, don't index everything.  They may not index some of the subscription-based services mentioned in this How To Find Out guide. If you use Google, note the Google Guide.

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