Engineering (UNH-Durham)

Scholarly Journals

• Purpose: Publish peer-reviewed articles, presenting original research and in-depth analyses.
• Usefulness: Ideal for understanding complex theories, models, and empirical studies.
• Examples: Journal of Structural Engineering, Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering.

Newspapers

• Purpose: Offer up-to-date news information.
• Usefulness: Great for staying informed on current trends and corporate news.
• Examples: The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe.

Trade Publications

• Purpose: Focus on industry-specific news and trends, written by professionals.
• Usefulness: Valuable for insights into industry trends and best practices.
• Examples: Civil Engineering Magazine, Water Environment & Technology.

Popular Magazines

• Purpose: Target a general audience, covering a wide range of science topics.
• Usefulness: Useful for understanding general trends and science news.
• Examples: Popular Science, Scientific American.

Choosing the Right Resource

• Purpose: Match the resource to your research goal—scholarly journals for deep analysis, trade publications for industry trends, and newspapers for current events.
• Cross-Referencing: Combine different resources for a comprehensive understanding.
• Ask a Librarian: Librarians can guide you to the right resources and help with access.

“Popular” information sources (TV, newspapers, radio, popular magazines) are rarely the best sources of science and engineering information as they

• are short,
• do NOT provide a lot of detail
• are generally written by people who aren't experts

These can be good for alerting you to new developments that you can investigate further in more reputable, authoritative sources described in this guide.

This video, created by the North Carolina State University Libraries and under a Creative Commons license, presents a good overview of the research and peer-review processes.

Science and engineering databases are good sources for identifying articles on your specific topic.