Cellular Materials in Natural and Engineered Structures - MECH 548

• Useful library resources
• Finding books
• Finding journal articles
• Obtaining materials that are not available at McGill
• Writing and referencing your paper

Useful library resources

Finding Books on Reserve

Ask for MECH 548 course reserves by call number at the Schulich Library Loans Desk (Reserves).

Reference sources

Finding books

Suggested subjects to search in the library catalogue:

You can replicate these results by going to the Advanced Search and typing words into the Subject field.

To refine any of these searches, type additional words into your search.

Finding journal articles

Useful databases for finding journal articles:

• Web of Science – multidisciplinary
• Scopus – multidisciplinary
• Materials Research Database – for materials science, can be searched simultaneously with "Aerospace Database"
• Compendex – for all aspects of engineering
• Medline – Premier source for biomedical literature
• Aerospace Database – for aerospace, can be searched simultaneously with "Materials Research Database"
• Applied Science Full Text – intended for undergraduate students

How to find articles using keyword searching in databases:

Sample search: trabecular bone AND lattice materials in Scopus

Ways to decrease results

• Search words as a phrase

  e.g. "trabecular bone" AND "lattice materials"

• Combine additional terms with AND to generate fewer results

  e.g. trabecular bone AND lattice materials AND regeneration

• Select one of the database's limit types

  e.g. publication type, language, publication date

• Search for words only in a particular field

  e.g. trabecular in title only

Ways to increase results

• Search using fewer terms

  e.g. trabecular bone

• Use truncation to allow the terms to end in various ways

  e.g. trabecular AND bone* AND material*

• Use synonyms or similar concepts, combining them with OR to generate more results

  e.g. trabecular AND (bone OR tissue) AND (lattice* OR crystal*) AND material*

Get new ideas for search terms

• Use descriptors in the database (also called subjects, controlled vocabulary or controlled terms)

Obtaining materials that are not available at McGill

McGill students and staff may order articles and books not available at McGill using COLOMBO (interlibrary loan).

There are no charges for ordering through COLOMBO; McGill subsidizes these services.

Please do not wait until it is too late for us to help you with COLOMBO.

Writing and referencing your paper

Consult these resources for tips on how to write a research paper. Click on the call number to find out where the book is located.

Writing Tools

• Check out McGill Library's Five steps to a better paper for tips on researching and writing your paper.
• For other tools to help with writing, click here.

The Chicago Manual of Style

• The Chicago Manual of Style is available online through the McGill Library. The Chicago-Style Citation Quick Guide is the easiest place to start. Click on the "author-date" tab for the style used by those in the physical, natural and social sciences.

EndNote

• You can download EndNote citation management software for free. With this software you can get references directly from many databases, such as Web of Science.
• EndNote Web is now available at McGill University. To access EndNote Web you need to create a personal account. You may sign up for an account with your McGill email address at www.myendnoteweb.com.
• There are library workshops given on how to use this software effectively.