Guides: STEM Library Services @ Pitt: Articles, Technical Documents and Standards

How do I find documents needed for my research?

Scientific literature comes in many forms that are designed and written for different purposes. Information about them is organized in different ways and available through a variety of sources, depending on the subject, document type, and other criteria. Here are a few helpful resources to get started.

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If you want more information or personal assistance, contact the specialist for your subject area or submit a question through Ask Us.

If you are looking for information on a topic, we can point you to appropriate resources, help develop a search strategy and refine your search, and provide training in the use of databases.
If you are looking for a specific item, we can help with incomplete and ambiguous citations, determine whether we have an item and how to request or access it, and find alternatives or help request an item we don't have.

Finding Articles

A-Z Databases List
A list of databases available to Pitt users and sortable by subject. Many cover multiple types of documents and may include special search features related to the discipline.

Web of Science This link opens in a new window
A literature database that provides good coverage of science, medicine, and engineering, along with other subjects. It focuses on scholarly journal literature.
Academic Search Premier This link opens in a new window
A good general literature database that includes a mix of scholarly, trade, and popular publications, including newspapers and magazines.

Google Scholar
A search engine that searches a part of the internet it has identified as more scholarly. It generally doesn't give you as much control over searches as the literature databases, but it can be useful in finding things that haven't been formally published.

Finding Dissertations

D-Scholarship
The University of Pittsburgh's institutional repository. It provides access to the university's digital dissertations.
PittCat
Search PittCat for records for print theses and dissertations from the University of Pittsburgh.

Dissertations and Theses (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
Doctoral dissertations and master's theses from more than 1,000 institutions around the world. Includes the full text of many, but not all, of the documents indexed.

Finding Patents and Technical Documents

USPTO - U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
Patents are important as both legal documents and sources of technical information. Search for U.S. patents and patent applications. Learn about the patenting process, the patent classification system, and more.
Espacenet
From the European Patent Office. Search more than 150 million patent documents from around the world.
Getting Technical Standards @ Pitt
Technical standards document the accepted criteria for various materials, products, processes, and services so that they will be "fit for their purpose." Standards are typically issued by professional, industry, or government organizations.
TRAIL (Technical Report Archive & Image Library)
Technical reports are issued by a variety of government agencies, research institutes, universities, and other organizations to report on their research. They are not formally published. TRAIL indexes U.S. government technical reports.

If we don't have it:

Interlibrary Loan
Request a copy of an article or borrow a book or other item that Pitt does not own or provide.
EZBorrow
Borrow a book from a regional consortium of libraries.

University of Pittsburgh Library System

Course & Subject Guides

STEM Library Services @ Pitt

How do I find documents needed for my research?

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