What is a scholarly source?
If your assignment asks you to use:
- scholarly sources,
- academic journal articles, or
- peer-reviewed articles,
it is asking you to use credible information that has been written by and for experts in a subject—and usually written by the person who conducted the research they are writing about. In Engineering, scholarly sources are usually journal articles or conference papers.
Statistics, standards, and government or company reports are not considered scholarly sources, but might be useful and credible. To locate this sort of evidence for your work, go to the page Finding Facts, Statistics, Standards, and Reports.
Peer-reviewed (also known as refereed) articles have gone through an additional process to ensure their quality. These articles have been checked before publication by other experts in the field to make sure they seem plausible, there are no noticeable faults in the methodology, and they reach a reasonable conclusion given the evidence presented. Peer review does not mean that an article is credible, but it is more likely to be credible.
You will find scholarly sources in databases, WorldSearch, or Google Scholar. These sites usually have a search option that will return only peer-reviewed results. Some useful databases are listed below.
Databases
What is a database?
Databases are where you'll find journal articles and conference papers.
A database is a searchable collection of journal articles, books, and other resources. Some databases focus on peer-reviewed articles of academic quality, while others also contain newspaper articles, conference papers, book chapters, TV clips, and other types of information.
Many databases are subscription-only, so use the links here, on the A-Z database list, or on ECU library search to ensure the database knows you are an ECU student. This will prompt you to log in using your student username and password, if you are not already logged in.
Some items found in a database can only be found using that database, so it is worth performing a relevant database search even if you have already looked on ECU WorldSearch or Google Scholar.
How do you find databases?
ECU subscribes to many databases, some of which are subject specific, and some multi-disciplinary (they contain information for several academic disciplines). Some databases have content that is relevant only to a specific sub-field of engineering.
The A-Z database list has a brief summary of each database to help you decide which to use, and it can be filtered to return only databases that are relevant to engineering (using the drop-down menu for subjects).
Click the titles below for other useful databases:
- Engineering databases: for scholarly information relevant to engineering in general, or multiple types of engineering.
- Discipline-specific databases: for information relevant only to one type of engineering, e.g. petroleum or transport engineering.
- Multidisciplinary databases: for scholarly information that is not engineering-specific and not solely related to only one discipline.
- Engineering Village This link opens in a new window
Provides access to 12 engineering literature and patent databases, with coverage from a wide range of trusted engineering sources. Search directly on Engineering Village using the search tool below. (Results open in a new tab.)
- Knovel This link opens in a new window
Engineering database featuring interactive tools for tables, charts, equations, plotters and graphs. Also includes material properties, process and design information, best practices, equations and formulations for all engineering disciplines.
Other Engineering Databases
- ENGINE (Australian Engineering Database) This link opens in a new window
Covers all branches of engineering including Agricultural, Aerospace, Biomedical, Chemical, Civil, Coastal, Computer, Earthquake, Education, Electrical, Electronic, Geotechnical, Management, Materials, Mechanical, Military, Ocean, Railway, Structural, Transport, Tunnelling and Water. - Engineering Collection This link opens in a new window
Provides access to full text resources across all engineering disciplines.
Sometimes you might need to look for research in areas outside of engineering, to complement your engineering research. These databases are not limited to a single discipline.
You may need to think more carefully about what keywords you use, as content will not be limited to engineering-specific information.
- Scopus This link opens in a new window
A multidisciplinary abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature, and provides both author and journal metrics (performance analytics) of the literature indexed in the database. - Web of Science This link opens in a new window
Web of Science is a multidisciplinary abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature, and provides both author and journal metrics (performance analytics) of the literature indexed in the database. - SpringerLink Journals and eBooks This link opens in a new window
Provides access to millions of scientific documents from journals, books, series, protocols, reference works and proceedings. - ProQuest Central (Current ECU Students & Staff) This link opens in a new window
International multidisciplinary database indexing a selection of journals in all subject disciplines. It is useful for a broad cross-disciplinary search, rather than in-depth in a subject. - Emerald Insight This link opens in a new window
Covers Accounting, Finance, Economics, Business, Management, Education, Engineering, Health & Social Care, Library Studies, Marketing, Sociology, Tourism & Hospitality, and Transport. - Wiley Online Library This link opens in a new window
Hosts the world's broadest and deepest multidisciplinary collection of online resources covering life, health and physical sciences, social science, and the humanities. - Taylor & Francis Online Journals This link opens in a new window
Publishes more than 2,500 journals and over 5,000 new books each year, with a books backlist in excess of 120,000 specialist titles. As well as scholarly journals and books, they also publish eBooks, text books and reference works.
