| plant and process engineering

Chemical Engineering information resources

Information sources for Plant and Process Engineering (CHEM ENG 2006)

Design Project

Useful Shortcuts

Kirk-Othmer

Ullmann's

Dictionary of organic compounds

More Chemical Engineering encyclopaedias & handbooks

To find journal articles use -

CHERUB

ENGINE

Compendex

SciFinder Scholar

unsure what to use - Ask a Librarian

Getting a copy of an article

Library Catalogue

How to get a book or journal from the Joint Store

Which library has this journal?

Libraries Australia

Intercampus requests

Document delivery Chemical data

Chemicals cost guide
(educational use)

Environmental matters

Patents

Standards
Australian Standards Online

Essay and report writing

How a reference should look

Exam papers

Image and Copy Centre

SBIGs- Subject-Based Internet Gateways

General interest Internet resources

The Department of Chemical Engineering

Encyclopaedias and Handbooks provide a useful starting point.

These useful sources present a comprehensive coverage of chemical substances, including their Chemical Abstracts (CAS) Registry numbers; of fundamental principles and of manufacturing processes. Each section has a list of references including the more important original papers and patents pertaining to that topic.

The Library has three major encyclopaedias for chemical engineering, two of which are available in electronic form.

Encyclopedia of chemical processing and design. (McKetta) 68 volumes 1976-1999.
Reference collection 660.03 E54
The emphasis is on process design and technology, including economic aspects. There is a brief subject index in volume 68.
updated by
Encyclopedia of chemical processing, edited by S. Lee
Reference collection 660.03 E54.2
"a complete reconceptualisation of the classic reference . . . this resource offers extensive A-Z treatment of the subject.

Kirk-Othmer encyclopedia of chemical technology. current
For many years, the principal English language encyclopaedia, covering chemical substances, fundamental principles, manufacturing processes.

Ullmann's encyclopedia of industrial chemistry. current
Originally the German chemical technology encyclopaedia, now in English.
Provides a broader coverage than Kirk-Othmer, with substantial lists of references including patents.

Both K-O and Ullmann's in their electronic form have the same search software, so here are some brief notes.

If you want to see the section dealing with, for example low rank coal, use BROWSE ARTICLES BY and click on Title. This brings up an alphabet, just click on the appropriate letter, eg. C or L to get a list of the topics. Scroll down and click on the relevant topic, eg. Coal or Lignite and Brown Coal.

Note the column on the left-hand side which allows you to choose and go to a specific chapter, eg. 9. Coal Conversion (Uses) or 4. Resources and Production. Underneath the list of chapters are links to lists of the Figures and Tables which appear in the text of the section. These can be a quick way to go back to a figure or table that you remember in the encylopaedia.

Alternatively you can use the SEARCH IN THIS TITLE bar to find the sections where information on your topic may occur. Type your search terms in the bar, eg. sulfur dioxide removal [NB. Both Kirk-Othmer and Ullmann's are published by an American publisher, so your search needs to take account of American spelling !!]
Click on the Go button to get a list of the sections where information on your topic may be found.
Click on the link to Section Text in HTML to go to the relevant part of the encyclopaedia.

Follow up References from the encyclopaedias.
Entries in Kirk-Othmer and Ullmann's provide extensive lists of references to articles, books and patents which give more detail on an aspect of the topic.
Check the source title, journal name or conference name, for these references in the Library Catalogue to see if they are available here.
NOTE In many cases the title of the journal for a reference is given in an abbreviated form. Find out what is the full title of the journal before you search the Library Catalogue. There is a list of abbreviations, Periodical title abbreviations, behind the Information Desk, or use All that JAS: journal abbreviation sourcces.

Other handbooks and encyclopaedias
You may also consider using one or more of the many specialised encyclopaedias and handbooks in the Library which cover issues of importance to chemical engineering such as environmental engineering.
Many of these are found in the Reference collection at 660-669.

Finding more information on a topic

To find books on a topic use the Keyword option of the Library Catalogue.

Use Library Catalogue - all options then from Search by: select Keywords (use and, or, not, " "). Using the Boolean operators (and, or, not) will enable you to make your search more effective.
The AND operator indicates that the words either side should be found somewhere in the text.
In the Search for: bar type words to describe your topic, then click on Search, eg.
coal AND power AND production finds 17 records which include each of these words somewhere in a record.
Improve your search strategy by using
- the OR operator which allows you to search for alternative words for a concept,
eg.

(sulphur OR sulfur)

Also consider using
- the truncation symbol ? which allows you to search for singular and plural or any different endings to a word,
eg.

chemical? AND plant? AND (design OR construction) AND retrofit?

- the phrase command " " which enables you to enclose in inverted commas search words that you want to appear as a phrase. Use this option with care!
eg.

(lignite OR "brown coal" OR "low grade coal?") AND use?

The Search Results: report shows your search strategy and the number of titles which match that search strategy, followed by a numbered list of the titles arranged alphabetically by title. The brief information for each title includes the Library Location:, the Call Number: and the Status: (whether or not the item is on loan) for print material.

For a title that looks useful, click on the link at Full Title for the Record view, a full description of that item. The full record gives a description of the book, the Subject Heading(s): a Link to e-Resource: where the book and journal is in electronic form, or the Location: Call Number: and Status: (whether or not the item is on loan) for each copy of a printed title.
Use the Subject Heading(s): link to find out if the Library has any other titles with the same Subject Heading.

If you want to see the most recent publications first, go to Sort by at the top or bottom of the titles list, and pull down to Date (latest first).

Use the previous and next icons to move backwards or forwards through the list of titles.

To find what journal articles have been written on a topic as well as what conference papers, reports and patents exist, you need to search indexes or databases.
Remember -

You cannot find journal articles on a topic directly through the Library Catalogue.

Database searches will give you the journal title, volume number, (and an issue number, sometimes), date, and pages numbers where the article or paper appears.

You can then search that journal title in the Library Catalogue to find a print or electronic copy of the article.

REMEMBER - use the * for truncation.

Try the following indexes first; using the Keyword search strategy -

CHERUB: CHemical Engineering Reference User Bibliography. 1989-

CHERUB is a handy index to prominent English-language journals in chemical engineering. Many are held by the Library. See notes on search techniques.

ENGINE. 1980-
ENGINE indexes the publications of the Institution of Engineers, Australia. The Library holds most of the IEAust National Conference Publications. Use the same search techniques as for CHERUB.

You may need to use the major indexes for chemical engineering but take care as these index very specialised articles.

Ei CompendexWeb. 1970-

The primary international index for all aspects of engineering. Select Expert Search and use your Keyword search strategy, with the asterisk * for truncation See notes on searching.

SciFinder Scholar 1907-
The single source for all aspects of any chemical-related topic; has some overlap with Ei Compendex. Although the software is loaded on the student computers in the Libray and on some computers in the Chemical Engineering School, there is a limit of four concurrent users. If you cannot get on, try at another time. See notes on searching.

See chemical engineering databases for a full list of possible sources.

Search techniques for your project

Think before you search the Library catalogue and databases. Before you do any searching for information consider the various aspects of your topic.

Break down your topic into concepts

Think of a few synonyms, related terms, spellings, plurals for your concepts.
   What other names can be used for the substances? Are there any specific methods of producing your substance?

The search terms you use in the Library catalogue may not be as specific as those you use in databases, because books have a broader coverage than specific articles.

Be prepared to revise your first search attempt to improve the search result.
   Look at the references your first search attempt gives, note any useful terms and use them in a new (better?) search.
   Think of other issues such as costs, environment, etc.

If a database has a link to the full text of an article, try it out it.
You may be lucky and get the full text of the article if the Library subscribes to the journal. If it doesn't always check the journal title in the Library catalogue to find either the printed journal or a link to its electronic form.

Report writing

If you need help writing an essay or report, try some of the guides to report writing and citation styles. Make sure that you cite in the bibliography for your report any books, articles, encyclopaedias or websites that you use as sources of information.