Mechanical Engineering GBDP 2017
Finding research, technical, and market research information
This workshop will demonstrate how to use a selection of Library databases to find different
kinds of information for your Group Business & Design Project. We will look at:
A. Journal articles and conference papers
B. Patents and standards
C. Market research, company and industry information
All the databases referred to here are linked from the Library’s ‘Subject resources’ for
Mechanical Engineering webpage: http://www.bath.ac.uk/library/subjects/mech-eng
A. Finding journal articles and conference papers
Compendex via Engineering Village
Go to the Library’s ‘Subject resources’ for Mechanical Engineering web page.
Under the heading Databases: essential for finding journal articles, conference papers and other
publications click on the link Compendex via Engineering Village.
Now try the following example to find articles looking at the manufacture of broadband superluminescent
diodes.
In the first empty SEARCH FOR box, type the following:
“superluminescent diode” or “superluminescent diodes” or SLD*
And in the associated SEARCH IN box select Subject/Title/Abstract
In the second empty SEARCH FOR box, type:
fabric* or manufactur*
And again, in the associated SEARCH IN box select Subject/Title/Abstract.
How many references did you find?
________________________________________________________________________________________
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From the Refine Results column on the on the left of the screen,
expand the heading Document Type and tick Journal article.
Then expand the heading Language and tick English.
In the Add a term box enter the word:
broadband
Finally click on the grey Limit to button at the top of the column.
How many references do you now have?
_________________________________________________________
Select a few of these references, by clicking in the box next to their number. Now click on ‘Email’ next to the
green envelope icon at the top of the results list. Follow the instructions on screen to send the records to your
email address (you need an email address in the to and your email fields).
Close the email window, then select Date (Newest) from the ‘Sort by’ drop-down menu on the top right of the
screen to order the references by date of publication. Click on Show Preview to view a summary of the article,
then click on the word Detailed to view the full record. To find out if the full text of the article is available online
click on the blue Links button. Select the first link in the menu now displayed to view the full text.
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B. Finding standards and patents
a) BSOL (British Standards Online)
We are going to look for standards relating to hybrid vehicles.
Connect to the Library’s ‘Subject resources’ for Mechanical Engineering webpage and select British
Standards Online (under the heading ‘Patents, standards and data’).
In the SEARCH box enter the phrase: “hybrid vehicles”. Then click on the magnifying glass icon to Search.
How many standards did you find?
______________________________________________________________________________________
Click on the standard number for one of the standards retrieved to see the full information and history.
From the same screen select Download PDF from the left hand menu to view the full text in PDF format.
(b) Espacenet for patents
We are going to look for patent applications
from the company Blatchford relating to
prosthetic limbs.
Connect to the Library’s ‘Subject resources’
for Mechanical Engineering and select
Patents information and then espacenet
(under the heading ‘Patents, standards and
data’).
Select ‘Advanced search’ from the left hand
menu.
In the ‘Title or abstract’ box enter the word:
prosthe*
In the ‘Applicant(s)’ field enter the word:
Blatchford. Click on search.
How many patent applications did you find?
Click on the title of a patent application of interest to view the full record, then navigate the sections of the
patent using the menu at the top left of the screen. ('Description, claims, mosaics, original document...)
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C. Finding market research, company and industry information,
Connect to the Library’s ‘Subject resources’ Mechanical Engineering webpage. Under the heading under the
heading ‘Additional resources’ click on the link ‘Company information and market research resources’:
http://www.bath.ac.uk/library/subjects/mech-eng/company.html .
We have looked at several databases today. Further resources can be found via the link above and on the
School of Management Library webpages (e.g. Passport for industry, company and country profiles; Mintel,
Keynote and IBISWorld for UK market research).
- 88 million companies & industry
snapshots.
- 31,000 detailed company profiles,
SWOT analyses and industry reports
with PESTLE analyses.
- International news and information on 46 million
companies. Some company profiles and SWOT analyses.
- Statistics search tool containing downloadable graphs and
charts. More than one million statistics ready to use in PPT, XLS
and PNG formats.
Scenario 1 - Locating general and financial company information and industry snapshots using Hoovers
Scenario 2 - Searching for detailed company profiles & industry profiles on Marketline
Scenario 3 - Finding press coverage of companies using Nexis
Scenario 4 - Finding statistics on companies and industries using Statista
Scenario 1a) Finding general and financial information on a company using Hoovers
Click on the link for Hoover’s Online at http://www.bath.ac.uk/library/subjects/mech-eng/company.html
Hoover’s is a database of 88 million businesses from more than 220 countries. It offers financial and executive
details plus a description of activities and competitors of public, private and government-run enterprises. Use
Hoovers for industry snapshots, a list of all companies in a sector and company overviews.
1/ Search for Apple in the main search
box and click the magnifying glass
button for search results.
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2/ Select the correct company
from the results list by placing
cursor over each name for a
brief description. Click on your
chosen company name in the
list to bring up the company
overview report.
3/ This overview report provides a brief
company description and key
information.
The Company index provides links to
financial data and further company
information including main competitors.
4/ By clicking on Competition in the
Company Index you can find a list of
selected competitors plus analysis of the
competitive landscape.
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5/ From the Competitors list you
can select up to three companies
for financial comparison with
Apple by ticking the box next to
their name and clicking on the
button.
6/ Charts and data (including a full
report) can be downloaded by choosing
the ‘My Tools’ & then ‘More tools’ at the
top of the screen. Select the ‘download
data’ option.
TIP: Use the icon ? to access
the help guide in each section.
1b) Finding industry information using Hoovers
1/ Select ‘Industries’ from the drop
down menu and type biofuel. From the
suggested options which appear, click on
‘biofuel manufacturing’.
This opens an industry description page with a summary of the industry, the top companies, and recent news.
It is a good starting point for your search. Note that our subscription is the education version so some links e.g.
to ‘Executive Insight’ will not work.
2/ Scroll down to view a list of top companies and click on
to view the full list in order of sales volume.
3/ To view the companies on a map, click on the red pin next to ‘change view’.
4/ To switch back, click on the table icon next to the pin.
5/ To find more information on any company, simply click on the company name in the list. Note that you can
re-rank the list by number of employees, profit margin or location.
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Scenario 2) Finding a company profile on Marketline, with expert in-depth analysis on the company and
related industry
Click on the link for ‘Marketline’ at: http://www.bath.ac.uk/library/subjects/mech-eng/company.html.
1/ Use Marketline to find a profile for Apple Inc. In the ‘Search’ box enter: Apple Inc. Click on the magnifying
glass icon to run the search.
2/ A list of results is given beginning with ‘Industries’, then ‘Companies’, ‘Case Studies’, ‘Company News’ and
‘Financial Deals.’
3/ Scroll down the page to ‘Companies’ and click on the link to Apple Inc. to open the report in HTML format.
4/ Select SWOT analysis from the menu on the right
Note that if you want to print the report in full you can choose the Word or PDF options.
5/ Return to the results list for Apple (by using the back button on the browser) to see industry reports, case
studies, company news and further analysis. Each section has further reports available by selecting the ‘view
all’ button. In the ‘Industry’ section view the report shown below for detailed analysis of the global PCs market:
(Note: this can be found on page 3).
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Scenario 3) Finding news coverage for companies on Nexis
Comprehensive news coverage can be found on Nexis News. This database covers over 1,700 news sources
from around the world.
Click on the link for ‘Nexis’ at: http://www.bath.ac.uk/library/subjects/mech-eng/company.html.
Try searching for news on a company of your choice. Some suggestions for your search are:
1. Find product development stories on Apple Inc in the last 6 months using ‘major world publications’ (see
below).
2. Find information on a well-known car manufacturer and safety issues in the last 2 years.
3. Search the week’s press for information on Air France.
4. You can also use the Company tab in Nexis to find company profiles, SWOT analyses etc.
1/ Put Apple in the first search box and
choose ‘company’ from the drop down
box.
2/Click on
3/ In the next search box enter keywords.
e.g.product development and select
‘major mentions’ from the drop down
box. This ensures that your keywords are
found either in the headline, lead
paragraph or indexing.
3/ Specify date to previous 6 months.
4/ Click on the drop down menu next to
‘All News, All Languages’ and select
‘major world publications’.
5/ Click on
.
6/ The results are shown in a list on the right of the screen and grouped by type on the left. Click
on the blue text to read the full news report.
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Scenario 4) Finding company and industry statistics on Statista
Statista is a Google-like statistics search tool containing downloadable graphs and charts.
Click on the link for ‘Statista’ at: http://www.bath.ac.uk/library/subjects/mech-eng/company.html.
Either use the text search or
browse the menus e.g.
‘Industries’, ‘Topics’.

What is the projected
global retail revenue
from smart wearable
devices for 2019 (in
billion U.S. dollars)?

Find Japan’s passenger
car production in 2015
(in millions of units).
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How to reference data found in databases
In the text:
The projected global retail revenue from smart wearable devices is forecasted to be $19 billion in 2019 (Juniper
Research, n.d.)
In the reference list:
Juniper Research, n.d. Projected global retail revenue from smart wearable devices in 2014 and 2019 (in billion
U.S. dollars). Statista [Online]. Available at: http://www.statista.com/statistics/259655/wearable-device-marketvalue-forecast/. (Accessed 17 June, 2016).
Graphs in the text:
In the reference list:
Figure 1 shows that
over an 8 year period,
Japan’s car production
was at its lowest in
2009 at 6.86 million
units (JAMA, n.d.)
JAMA. n.d. Japan's passenger car
production from 2008 to 2015 (in million
units). Statista [Online]. Available at:
http://www.statista.com/statistics/348344/p
assenger-vehicle-production-in-japan/
(Accessed 10 June, 2016.)
Note that Statista specifically allow graphs to be used, but only if properly referenced with Statista logo
intact. Always use the .png format that Statisa provides for this purpose.
How to reference reports found in databases
In the text:
The Polish economy avoided the 2009 European recession: it grew by 3.91% in 2010 and 4.28% in 2011.
(Marketline, 2012).
In the reference list:
Marketline, 2012. Country Profiles Series: Poland, In-depth PESTLE Insight. October 2012, Marketline
[Online]. Available at: http://advantage.marketline.com (Accessed: 2 December 2012).
Contact details for your Librarian:
Hilary Cooksley
Location: Library level 3, room 3.14
Phone: 01225 385587
Email: [email protected]
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