Finding Technical Information: Engineering

Grey Literature

Grey literature encompasses almost half of all engineering publications. It includes conference literature, research and technical reports, and government information. Some useful access sites for grey literature include:

Science.gov
Science.gov is a search engine for government science information and research. It searches more than 50 million pages of science information and is a gateway to over 1,800 scientific Web sites.
http://science.gov/

To obtain government-sponsored technical reports in Canada, do an advanced search for “technical reports” and (research or development), limiting the format to .gc.ca. This will obtain research and development reports published by any department of the Canadian government.

Patents:                                        Adding Patents to

Canadian Intellectual Property Office
Access to over 75 years of patent descriptions and images.
http.://cipo.gc.ca/

Canadian Intellectual Property Office. A Guide to patents
http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/sc_mrksv/cipo/patents/patentg-e.pdf

European Patent Office
http://www.european-patent-office.org/index.en.php

Patex’s Wonderful World of Wacky Patents
http://www.patex.ca/html/ip_information/wackpats.html

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
Fulltext since 1976, full-page images since 1790. A TIFF viewer is required to view images.
http://www.uspto.gov/

Standards and Codes:

Canadian General Standards Board Catalogue
Government Documents: P27- (1990-2003)

Canadian General Standards Board
http://www.tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca/ongc-cgsb/index-eng.html

National Building Code of Canada, 2005
REF: TH226.N3 2005

Prince Edward Island Building Code
http://www.gov.pe.ca/law/statutes/pdf/p-24.pdf

Created by: Norine Hanus, B.Ed., B.L.S.
Date Created: September 2005
Date Revised: June 2007