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Information Resources for Engineering

ENGINE - search hints

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ENGINE: Australian engineering database. 1980-
An index to journal articles and conference papers published or sponsored by the Institution of Engineers, Australia and its state divisions. ENGINE is one of a group of Australian databases on the Applied Science & Technology database service.

Searching

The default search is Find terms: Anywhere, a keyword option which looks for the selected words adjacent to each other, as in a phrase.

If you want individual keywords from anywhere in the record, type   AND between your search terms.

When you want to find records containing any of the alternative words for a concept, enclose the words in brackets with OR typed between each term.

REMEMBER - if you have both   AND   and   OR   operators in your search strategy, it is essential to use brackets around the words separated by   OR. eg.    (technology OR innovation) AND (commercialisation OR development)

Use an asterisk * for truncation, eg. weld*   will find weld, welded, welder, welding, weldments, welds.

Use a question mark ?   to replace a single letter where there can be different spellings, eg. optimi?ation

Type your search terms in the search bar and click on Search to get the All Results display.

Displaying records

The default display presents the 10 most recent records at the bottom of the screen with the bibliographical details, ie. the title of the article, the author's name, the source (journal title or conference name), volume, issue number, date and page numbers.

At the double arrowhead icon <> click on the right arrowhead > for the next records, the left arrowhead < for the previous records, or Go To Record number.

Click on Complete Record to view the full description of an article, including the Author Location:, the Abstract:, subject headings (Descriptors:), and Identifiers: words and phrases taken from the article.

Click on the single right arrowhead > for the next record, the left arrowhead < for the previous record. Click on the Show All Results page icon to return to the search results.

To view the full record for a set of results, click on Change Display at the left-hand side of the bar above All Results. Under Fields to Display select the display format required, such as Complete Record then click OK.

Mark a record by clicking on the box to the left of the title. To view the set of records created, you need to be in the All Results display, from a Complete Record click on the Show All Results icon to return to the search results.
Go to Show: (from the right-hand side of the shaded yellow bar, above All Results) and pull down to select Marked Results.

To display the results of an earlier set, click on Search History then click on the icon to Display the records for the required search.

Output

To Print, Save or E-mail records, select the appropriate icon from the right hand side of the yellow bar above the complete record display.
The defaults are Marked records and Displayed Fields. The defaults may be changed at this stage, select from Send these records: for All records, Marked records or a specified range of Record numbers, then select from Send these fields: your prefered display format such as Complete Record.

NOTE that for E-mail you need to fill in both the From: box and the Send records to: box, so put your address in twice! Click on Send Mail.

Click on Back to return to the search screen.

Modifying a search strategy

Click on Search to bring back the Search bar.

Click on SEARCH HISTORY to get a list of previous searches.
One useful feature of ENGINE is the ability to modify the results of previous searches by using the set number instead of re-typing a search strategy.

You can combine sets by typing the set numbers with the appropriate Boolean operator, eg.

#3(set number) AND #7(set number).

You can make a set more specific by adding additional search terms, eg.

#1(set number) AND expert system*

Use Search History to run your search strategy in other databases in the Applied Science and Technology service.
Firstly, click on Change to get to the list of databases, mark the box(es) to select the appropriate databases, then click on Start Searching. Now click on Search History to view the list of your searches in ENGINE and click on Rerun to find the records for the appropriate search strategy in the newly selected database(s).

Extend a search from the full record by following links within a full record -
Click on Author name to retrieve all other records for that author.
Click on Source title to find all papers from the journal or conference.

Use the INDEX to see an alphabetical list of terms in the free text search fields.
Type in a word or phrase, then click on Go to Term to bring up a sequence of words and phrases beginning with the search term.
Click on a word or phrase to bring up a set of the records which include that term, or mark a range of words or phrases and Search Check Terms.

ADVANCED SEARCH allows you to combine two terms, each from a specified field, including words from the Descriptors and Identifiers.

Limit allows you to restrict a search to Publication Year 1996-1998 or Publication Year 1998-2000.

Please Logout to leave the database.

For earlier material see -

Institution of Engineers. Australia. Author and subject index of publications. 1920-1968, 1975-1978.
Reference collection 620.6 I59a

If you can't find what you need please check with the Engineering Librarian before giving up!
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