Engineering Village
Quick Reference Guide
Engineering Village Quick Reference Guide
This user guide provides on overview of the most
frequently used Engineering village search options,
helping you improve efficiency, productivity and
facilitate important discoveries easier.
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2 | August 2015
Engineering Village | Quick Reference Guide
Quick Reference Summary
Search
Search for an exact phrase by using quotation marks or brackets:
“rocket propulsion laboratory”
{rocket propulsion laboratory}
Search within a specific field using WN
“wearable technology” wn TI and video wn AB
Boolean and Connectors
A
ND – terms exist together within a document or field. AND narrows the number of documents retrieved.
OR – each term can exist separately within a document or field. OR expands the number of documents retrieved.
NOT – excludes terms from a document or field.
NEAR – searches for terms in proximity. ONEAR specifies the exact order of terms. NEAR and ONEAR cannot be used with truncation, wildcards, parenthesis, braces or quotation marks.
Solar NEAR energy
Wind NEAR/3 power
Energy ONEAR/0 policy
Use parentheses to search compound or nested Boolean statements
(“jet propulsion” OR “rocket propulsion”) AND engine*
Additional Tips
Engineering Village is not case-sensitive. Queries may be entered in any case or mixture of cases.
Frequently used fields:
AU – author
ST – serial title (journal name)
TI – title
KY – subject/title/abstract
AB – abstract
CV – controlled term (index/thesaurus term)
AF – author affiliation
LA – language
CO – country of publication
YR – year
The complete Engineering Village Help file can viewed in the ‘Support’ menu in the top
navigation bar.
NOTE: Images used in this quick reference guide may be slightly different at each organization depending on subscription levels.
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August 2015 | 3
Quick Search
The Quick Search page is an easy to use search form designed to enable both novice and expert searchers to locate relevant information
quickly and easily.
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1 Database: Select one or more databases. Only databases with
an organizational subscription will be listed.
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Search For: Type keywords in the search box. Use AND, OR,
and NOT operators from the drop-down menu to narrow
or broaden search results. Click on the ‘All fields’ drop down
arrows to enable specific fields to be searched (Author, Author
affiliation, Controlled term, Source title, etc.). Click ‘Add
search field’ to add more rows (up to a maximum of 12).
3 Limit To: Choices for limiting searches to a specific type of
content will depend on the database selected and the fields
used in that database. Use the drop down arrows to see
the list of choices for each field. Limit fields may include
document type (journal articles, proceedings), treatment type
(review, bibliography), discipline type (physics, computers)
and language.
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Sort By: Results can be sorted by relevance or publication
year. The ‘autostemming’ function enables searching for a
root word and words formed with other possible suffixes.
For example, if the term “control” is searched using
autostemming, the results list will contain: controllers,
control, controlling, controlled, controls. This allows retrieval
of many variations of a word.
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earch History: A list of the most recent 50 searches
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conducted during a session is in the ‘Search history’ box at
the bottom of the Quick Search, Expert Search and Thesaurus
Search pages. Searches can be combined using the check
boxes and pull down arrows. Searches can also be edited,
saved or used for an Alert. If a saved search or an Alert is
created, the user will need to register and login. The search
history is deleted once the user ends a session.
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rowse Indexes: Depending on the database selected, the
B
Browse Indexes box will appear on the right side of the
screen. Users can locate a specific author, publisher, journal
title or index term used within the database. By searching
with index terms, users can locate and retrieve highly
accurate results.
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L atest Resources: Links to additional training materials,
videos, news and feedback links.
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ore Sources: Links to additional engineering sources
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available at your institute.
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Interactive Equations: Interactive equations and tools
Powered by Knovel contain over 500 interactive engineering
equations plus a unit converter and periodic table. Knovel
subscribers have access to all 500+ equations and non-Knovel
subscribers are able to use 125 of them.
Engineering Village | Quick Reference Guide
Results page
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Articles found: The number of search results is displayed
followed by a list of databases searched and a clickable link to
the search query that was used.
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Features: Start a new search, edit a search, save a search for
later use, create a search alert, establish an RSS feed or view
search history.
3 Refine results: After completing a search, a list of categories
appears on the left side of the search results page. Each
category enables users to modify search queries. The order
of the boxes can be modified by clicking and dragging a box
up or down. The categories will remain in the new order
for users who are registered and logged in. The categories
displayed are database dependent.
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Limit to/Exclude: The ‘Limit to’ button will limit search results
to only include terms that were selected from the categories,
while the ‘Exclude’ button will eliminate terms from selected
categories. Use the search button under ‘Run new search with
selected facets’ to ignore the original search and use only
terms chosen using the categories.
Downloading Content:
Records can be downloaded directly to a computer or
into Mendeley, Google Drive, DropBox and RefWorks.
Formats available include plain text, RefWorks, BibTex,
Excel, PDF, RTF or RIS format (RIS is compatible with
EndNote, ProCite, and Reference Manager). If a reference
management tool such as Mendeley is used, it needs to be
installed prior to the record download. Registered users can
save their download preferences for use each time they log
into Engineering Village.
1. Select records for downloading using check boxes next to
each record.
2. Click ‘Save to PC’ above the search results. The Download
Settings menu appears.
3. Select format and location for download.
4. Click ‘Download’.
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Abstract: The clickable title displays the abstract record.
10 Detailed: The abstract record with additional details such as
document type, number of references and language.
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dd a term: Use the ‘Add a term’ box to enter a term and
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refine your results by choosing:
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he ‘Limit to’ button to search the term.
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he ‘Exclude’ button to exclude the term.
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elect one or more items from the categories, click ‘Limit to’
or ‘Exclude’.
12 Cited by in Scopus: The cited by count appears in search
results near each Compendex and Inspec article that contains
one or more citations within the Scopus database of scientific
literature. The cited by information is also available on the
abstract page in the ‘Tools in Scopus’ menu.
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elect: Select all records on the page or the first 500 records
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in the results list using the ‘Select’ box and pull down arrow.
Selecting records enables users to Email, Print, Download,
or Save them. The maximum number of records that can be
selected at any point is 500.
13 Full Text: A full text button will be displayed in the record
if an electronic subscription to the document is available
through a separate organizational subscription, and links have
been established between Engineering Village and the full text
electronic document.
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Selected Records: View records selected using the check
boxes next to each article citation.
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Manage and Output Your Results: On the results page,
users can Email, Print, Download and Save results to a folder.
Registration is necessary for creating folders.
14 Sort by: Results can be sorted by Relevance and Date
(Oldest or Newest) within all Engineering Village databases.
Additional sort options for specific databases may include
Author (A-Z and Z-A), Source (A-Z and Z-A), or Publisher
(A-Z and Z-A).
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11 Show preview: View a preview of the abstract.
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Abstract and Detailed records
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Abstract page: The Abstract page provides many types of
information about a document, including author affiliation,
main headings in the document, uncontrolled terms, and
classification codes.
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Compendex Refs: If searching only the Compendex database,
a Compendex Refs tab will be displayed listing articles cited
within the current document. Email, Print and Download are
not available on the Compendex Refs tab.
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Detailed page: The Detailed page provides additional
information such as ISSN and country of publication.
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Result options: Several operations are possible for processing
records. Download the full text article (if available at
your institute), Blog this (displays the URL of this article
for blogging), Email, Print, Download the Bibliographic
information, and Save Abstract to a Personal Folder
(login required).
Search term emphasis: Search terms are highlighted within
the abstract/detailed records. If a user is registered and
logged in, the highlight color can be changed and saved for
future search sessions.
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Tools in Scopus: The ‘Tools in Scopus’ box contains citation
information and links to author details. Two of the latest
articles citing the currently displayed article will be listed.
Subscribers to Scopus can click-through to Scopus to
see record details. The cited by link will only appear if the
document has been cited by other documents in Scopus.
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Engineering Village | Quick Reference Guide
Expert Search
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Expert Search: Expert Search provides power and flexibility by incorporating advanced Boolean logic, as well as additional search
options other than Quick Search. A single search box is provided on the Expert Search page. To perform an Expert Search, select one
or more databases, then construct a search using Boolean operators and ‘Search Codes’ list at the bottom of the page.
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Search codes: To search words within a specific field, use the “within” command, WN, and a field code (see examples below).
Field codes for each database appear in the Search Codes box at the bottom of the Expert Search page. Connect search terms using
the operators (AND, OR, or NOT).
Example: “wearable technology” wn TI and video*
Searches the phrase wearable technology within the Title (TI) field and the word video anywhere within the record.
Example: airbag wn AB or (seatbelt* or (seat belt*)) wn TI
Searches the word airbag within the Abstract (AB) field or the words seatbelt* or seat belt* within the Title (TI) field.
Example: “space station” wn CV and orbit wn TI
Searches the phrase “space station” within the Controlled Vocabulary (CV) field along with the word orbit within the Title (TI) field.
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Thesaurus Search
The Thesaurus Search page enables users to build a search using descriptive terms and synonyms assigned to each record in six of the
Engineering Village databases. The controlled vocabulary is used to standardize the way articles are indexed, enabling consistent and
precise search and retrieval. The six databases using thesaurus terms are Compendex, Inspec, GeoRef, GEOBASE, EnCompassPAT and
EnCompassLIT. Each of the six databases is indexed with its own controlled thesaurus terms. Indexers choose terms from a predetermined
subject list to describe article content. Each thesaurus is organized hierarchically, with words and synonyms arranged in relation to each
other with broader, narrower, equivalent, or related terms.
When using the Thesaurus Search, only the database(s) to which the institution subscribes is/are displayed. Only one database can be
searched at a time when using Thesaurus Search.
To perform a Thesaurus Search:
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Choose Database: On the Thesaurus Search page, select the database you would like to search.
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Type Search: Type a term in the search box.
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Select type of Search: Choose either Search, Exact Term or Browse, then click ‘Submit’.
Search: Displays the search term entered and related terms.
Exact Term: Goes directly to the thesaurus entry and displays broader, narrower, and related terms.
Browse: Displays the term within an alphabetical list of thesaurus terms.
A box will open below the search form showing matching items for the search term. Selecting one or more of these thesaurus terms by
using the check boxes will add the terms to the search query in the Search Box below the term list. Click ‘Search’ to execute the new search
using the thesaurus terms.
If a comprehensive search is desired, it may be beneficial to explore all likely paths using one or more of the thesaurus terms.
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Engineering Village | Quick Reference Guide
Click on a term to see related thesaurus terms:
• Use the checkbox to select a term. Click the icon
to find more term information such as classification code.
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Register and create your personal account
Registration is free and provides special features which are not available to non-registered users. Using a personalized account enables
users to use powerful information management tools contained in Engineering Village. With a personal account, records and searches
can be saved, folders for organizing search results can be created and weekly alerts that send new database records matching saved search
queries can be managed. Registered users can create personal settings for default download preferences and highlighting. All registration
information remains private and not shared outside Elsevier.
Create Account
Click ‘Register’ at the top of the page and complete the data entry form. The information entered is stored in a profile that can be edited by
clicking ‘Settings’ on the top navigation bar.
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Engineering Village | Quick Reference Guide
Settings
Saved Searches
The Save Search icon is located toward the top of any Engineering Village search results page. To delete a search, click ‘Settings’
at the top of the page, then ‘Alerts & Searches’. Delete a specific search or all saved searches by clicking ‘Delete All’ at the bottom
of the My Saved Searches box.
Alerts
Alerts can be created from any search results page by clicking the ‘Create Alert’ icon at the top of the page. To delete an Alert,
click ‘Settings’ at the top of the page, then ‘Alerts & Searches’. Alerts are delivered within hours of new records loaded into the
Engineering Village databases. Alerts can be enabled or disabled via the Alerts management box. Disabled alerts will be saved
and can be re-enabled at a later date.
Folders
Select records by clicking on the check boxes next to each record, then click on the ‘Save to Folder’ icon at the top of the search results
page. Use an existing folder or create a new one. To manage folders, click ‘Settings’ at the top of the page, then ‘Folders’. Documents
within each folder can be viewed or folders can be renamed or deleted. Records within the folder can be emailed, printed, or downloaded.
Up to ten folders can be created containing up to fifty records in each folder.
My Preferences
Registered users who are logged in can save settings for downloading, sorting, record
format, number of records displayed on a page and highlighting color. In the top
navigation bar, use the ‘Settings’ menu to choose ‘My Preferences’. If a default file name
is chosen, the file name will have the download date and time appended to the end of the
file name in order to create separate files each time a download occurs. Records can be
saved to a PC, Mendeley, RefWorks, GoogleDrive, Dropbox and a specific folder. Download
formats include popular citation management tools such as EndNote and BibTex.
Downloading can also be done in PDF, CSV, Excel, Text and RTF formats.
Help
Throughout Engineering Village, online Help is available. On the navigation bar at the top of the page, click ‘Support’, then Help for
instructions or related information.
Click on the small icons to access additional helpful information. This Help functionality is context-sensitive and will always show the
most relevant Help tips first.
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August 2015 | 11
Databases available on Engineering Village
Ei Compendex
Ei Compendex, online since 1970, is the most authoritative
database of abstracted and indexed literature in engineering and
the applied physical sciences. Abstracts of articles, covering 190
engineering disciplines, are indexed according to the Ei Thesaurus.
Ei Compendex covers many thousands of peer-reviewed journals
and conference proceedings, including proceedings from leading
engineering societies and publishers.
Engineering Index & Ei Backfile
The Engineering Index Backfile provides a comprehensive,
historical view of engineering developments and innovations
from 1884-1969 with 1.7 million records digitized from the
original Engineering Index print records. The combined searching
capability of Ei Compendex and the Ei Backfile offers the most
comprehensive resource for engineering available anywhere
covering over 131 years.
Inspec & Inspec Archive
Inspec, created by the Institution of Engineering and Technology
(IET), is one of the world’s most definitive bibliographic scientific
databases, containing close to 15 million abstracts and indexing
records. Inspec covers publications from 1969 onwards; Inspec
archive covers publications from 1898 to 1968.
GEOBASE
GEOBASE is a multidisciplinary database, which indexes
bibliographic information and abstracts for the Geographical,
Earth, and Ecological sciences, published by Engineering
Information, a subsidiary of Elsevier. The broad subject
coverage includes earth sciences, ecology, geomechanics,
human geography, physical geography, social geography
and oceanography. Records are indexed according to the
GEOBASE Thesaurus.
GeoRef
GeoRef, published by the American Geosciences Institute (AGI),
contains regional databases covering the global geological
sciences, including In Process, CanGeoRef, AusGeoRef, the Deep
Sea Drilling Project and abstract records from geoscience journals,
books, maps and conference papers. The content is enriched by
geoscientists applying current geologic terminology and latitude/
longitude location data to individual records. Records are indexed
according to the GeoRef Thesaurus.
EnCompassLIT & PAT
EnCompassLIT & EnCompassPAT, started by the American
Petroleum Institute, are the premiere sources for scientific
literature and patent abstracts covering the downstream
petroleum, petrochemical and natural gas industries. Abstracts
are indexed according to the EnCompass Thesaurus.
Patents, USPTO & EPO
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and
the European Union Patent Office (EPO) databases cover
millions of filed patents, providing researchers with the tools
they need to take advantage of the scientific and technical
information found within the United States and the European
Union patent records. Whether preparing a patent application,
tracking a technology, identifying a potential collaborator or
competitor, or simply learning more about work that is being
done in a particular field, patent documents are an essential
source for thorough, successful research.
CBNB
The Chemical Business NewsBase (CBNB) is a leading provider
of worldwide chemical business news. CBNB covers timely
information essential for tracking trends and developments in
the chemical and chemical engineering industry. CBNB contains
financial and business data from influential chemical companies,
the latest industry R&D news, intelligence on government
legislation changes and analysis of economic trends.
Chimica
Chimica covers engineering literature abstracts created specifically
for chemistry and chemical engineering research. Chimica indexes
the most influential chemistry journals, and weekly updates keep
engineers current with the latest developments in their field.
PaperChem
PaperChem is one of the pulp and paper industry’s most important
resources for news and information. It covers more than 50 years
of targeted literature and reports in 15 subject areas.
Unclassified Reports, NTIS
The National Technical Information Service database is the premier
source of federally-funded scientific, technical and engineering
information from over 240 US and international government
agencies. The NTIS database, dates back to 1899, and covers over
350 subject areas and is the preeminent resource for identifying
the latest research sponsored by the United States and select
foreign governments.
To find out more, please contact customer support via the Support link within the product.
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August 2015