Get Research Guides

The most effective way to find articles is to search the appropriate database.  Databases may include articles from scholarly journals, trade journals, newspapers and magazines. Try the databases listed here first. If you don't find what you need, ask us for more suggestions. You can also browse all of the databases by category.

>Database list

Applied Science & Technology
Covers a wide range of interdisciplinary fields in science, engineering and technology. Includes trade and industrial publications, journals issued by professional and technical societies, and specialized subject periodicals, as well as special issues such as buyers' guides, directories, and conference proceedings. Indexes over 400 core English-language scientific and technical publications.

Compendex
Covers scientific and technical engineering research in all bioengineering, chemical, civil, computer, electrical, mechanical, and petroleum engineering disciplines. Includes millions of multilingual citations and abstracts in engineering-related scholarly journals, trade magazines, conference proceedings and technical reports. Some full-text articles are included. Compendex is available via the Engineering Village platform.

Environment Complete
Covers environmental aspects of agriculture, ecosystem ecology, energy, natural resources, marine & freshwater science, geography, pollution & waste management, environmental technology, environmental law, public policy, social impacts, and urban planning.

Environmental Science and Pollution Management
Provides comprehensive coverage of the environmental sciences. Abstracts and citations are included from over 6000 resources including scholarly journals, conference papers & proceedings, reports and books. Subjects covered include agricultural biotechnology, air quality, bacteriology, environmental sciences, pollution, and waste management.

Environmental Studies & Policy Collection
Covers agriculture, biology, business, earth sciences, ecology, energy, mining, environmental studies, food science, political science and health and medicine.

General Science Collection
Covers all aspects of science such as architecture, biology, chemistry, computer science, engineering, geology, health & medicine, nanotechnology, and physics. Includes a wide range of international information spanning the last 30 years. Includes over 200 academic science journals and general science magazines. Indexes over 1.7 million articles, biographies, case studies, and technical reports.

ScienceDirect : College Edition
Covers all aspects of engineering and the social, physical, health and life sciences. Includes full text journals, reference works, books, and images. Indexes more than 10.6 million scholarly articles (including articles currently in press) from over 9,500 titles.

Click on the SciVerse Hub link at the top of the search page to access selected quality web-based resources from government, research and science organizations.

AccessEngineering
Covers a wide range of McGraw-Hill engineering-related resources. Includes core eBooks such as Marks' Standard Handbook for Mechanical Engineers, Perry's Chemical Engineers Handbook, Standard Handbook for Electrical Engineers, Roark's Formulas for Stress and Strain, and many more. Indexes over 250 eBook publications.

Ebrary Engineering and Technology Collection
Contains over 4000 eBooks on engineering and technology subjects. A number of eBooks on other subject areas including business are also available through this interface. Special features include: ability to set up an account to store and make notes on resources in your personal bookshelf, highlighting & note-taking features, dictionary definitions, encyclopedia explanations, and biographical information.

ENGnetBASE
One of the eBook collections in CRCnetBASE. Covers a wide range of civil, electrical, industrial, mechanical, mining, and power engineering topics.

ENVIROnetBASE
One of the eBook collections in CRCnetBASE. Covers the latest research on pollution reduction, emissions, environmental contamination, methods for site assessment, remediation, and soil and water quality monitoring; also describes new tools and technologies for remote sensing, GIS, and photogrammetric environmental monitoring.

Films on Demand Science and Mathematics Collection
FOD is a web-based digital video collection that provides instant access to streaming videos from the Films Media Group. The Science & Mathematics collection includes videos on biology, computers & technology, earth sciences, environmental sciences, geography, mathematics, and physical sciences topics. You can search by keyword, or browse and select videos from the subject categories. Videos can be viewed in their entirety, or as individual segments.

Note: These digital streaming video programs are available for in-class use or for viewing from any computer, both on or off-campus, however bandwidth on NAIT campus is limited and streaming video requires high bandwidth usage. When accessing Films on Demand videos on campus please choose a lower bit rate for individual viewing and a higher rate for classroom presentations. 

Knovel
Full text of reference books in the fields of chemistry and the life sciences, metals, and engineering. Click on "My Subscription" to retrieve only titles that NAIT has full access to.

Referex
Covers six collections of full-text engineering eBooks: Chemical, Petrochemical & Process Engineering; Electronics & Electrical Engineering; Materials & Mechanical Engineering; Computing; Civil and Environmental Engineering; and Networking & Security. Includes information engineering eBooks, how-to books and practice guides. Referex is available via the Engineering Village platform.

The Library has books, eBooks, scholarly journal or newspaper articles, videos, streaming media, and much more. Use the library search tool to find resources; you can refine your results to locate specific resources you need (books, articles, videos, etc.), or to limit by topic or date.

Call numbers help you find the areas of the library shelves relevant to your program.

• 333.79 and 621.042 - Renewable energy sources
• 333.954 and 662.88 -  Biomass energy
• 546 - Inorganic chemistry
• 547 - Organic chemistry
• 621.042 and 621.47 -  Solar energy
• 621.31 - Electric power
• 621.312 and 621.3126 - Energy storage
• 621.312134 - Water-power/ Tidal power
• 621.312136 and 621.45 - Wind power/ Wind turbines
• 621.312429 - Fuel cells
• 621.31244 and 621.381542 - Photovoltaic power generation/ Solar cells
• 621.4 and 621.44 - Geothermal resources
• 621.4028 – Heat storage
• 621.47 – Solar thermal energy 

Suggested search terms for topics include the following, which can be used in the library search tool, databases and the internet. Check the help section in the library search tool, each database or search engine for details. Quotation marks (“ “) around words mean that the words will be searched together, in that order, as a phrase. For example: “alternative energy”.

• alternative energy
• alternative fuel
• bioenergy
• biofuels
• biomass energy
• carbon capture
• electric power
• energy development
• energy generation
• energy storage
• energy transition
• fuel cells
• fuel switching
• geothermal
• geothermal resources
• heat storage 
• hydroelectric
• hydropower
• inorganic chemistry
• ocean energy
• organic chemistry
• photovoltaic power generation
• power resources
• programmable controllers
• programmable logic controllers
• renewable energy design
• renewable energy sources
• solar cells
• solar energy
• solar thermal energy
• sustainable energy
• thermal energy
• thermodynamics
• tidal power
• water-power
• wind energy
• wind power
• wind turbines

Journals important to your program are listed here.

To locate print and online journals by title check our Journal Title List.  It lists all of the journals that you can access through the Library.

To search for articles remember to use the databases listed under the Articles tab.

Online journals

Energy for Sustainable Development
Full text articles available from 1995 to the present.

Refocus
Full text articles available from 2001 to 2007. In 2007 the journal changed its name to Renewable Energy Focus.

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews
Full text articles available from March 1997 to the present.

Renewable Energy
Full text articles available from 1995 to the present.

Renewable Energy Focus
Previously Refocus. Full text articles available from 2007 to the present.

Websites important to your program are listed here.

Carbon Footprint of Nations
From the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, this website features a calculator that supplies international carbon footprint data. The Links tab offers access to full text emissions and sustainability-related publications.

Energy Council of Canada
The Energy Council of Canada is the Canadian national member of the World Energy Council, and is made up of representatives from all facets of Canada's energy sector. The website provides energy news and energy information from across Canada.

Environment Canada
Provides overviews of a variety of sustainability initiatives, and offers access to Canadian environmental acts & regulations, publications, and environmental indicators.

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Offers information about current environment-related topics and related research. Includes access to current U.S. laws & regulations related to environmental issues.

Office of Energy Efficiency
From Natural Resources Canada, this website provides information about energy use in Canadian homes and businesses. Includes regulations and standards, equipment and technical information, and alternative fuel facts.

U.S. Department of Energy
Information about a wide variety of energy sources, including geothermal, solar, wind, hydropower and bioenergy. Includes links to statistical information for each energy source via the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

What You Need to Know About Energy
From the National Academy of Sciences, an informative website about the use, sources, and sustainability of energy in the United States.

World Energy Council
The World Energy Council has member communities in nearly 100 countries and covers all types of energy, including coal, oil, natural gas, nuclear, hydro, and renewable. The website provides worldwide energy news and full text publications on a variety of international energy-related topics.

Learn more about using information from the web.

> Evaluating Websites (PDF)
> Search Engines and Directories (PDF)