LibGuides: Mechanical Engineering: Home

Get a head start - Preparing for an assignment

To help you get off to a great start with your first assignment the Academic Librarians have created a short course for you: Preparing for an assignment

It takes only 15 minutes and will introduce you to different information sources, how to search for and select resources and also covers basic referencing.

Who is this guide for?

We've made this guide to support students on the following programmes:

BEng/MEng Computer Aided Mechanical Engineering
BEng Mechanical Electronic Systems Engineering
BEng Engineering (Design & Manufacture) (GA)
BEng/MEng Mechanical Systems Engineering
MSc Mechanical Engineering
MSc Instrumentation & Control

Whether you're new to GCU or starting your dissertation, this guide can help.

How do I use this guide?

We've designed this guide to help you work out what kind of information you need, plus where and how to find it.

Home: get in touch with us and find information for new GCU students
Researching your topic: get started with types of information sources, planning your search and search tips
Using databases: select subject-specific databases to help you find journal articles and other information
Evaluating information: decide whether what you've found is credible
Referencing and plagiarism: create a reference and find out how to avoid plagiarism

Key links

If you're in a hurry, here are some key links to help you get started. Our Using databases page includes more in-depth information and support.

British Standards Online
Access our collection of ISO, EN, BS, PAS, ASTM and IEC standards, including Eurocodes. Use the search box in the upper right hand corner to search for standards by number or keyword
Compendex
Compendex is the broadest and most complete engineering literature database available in the world. It provides a global view of peer reviewed and indexed publications with over 20 million records from 77 countries across 190 engineering disciplines.
Discover
Discover is the main GCU library search and is a great place to start searching for information. You can find books, e-books, journal articles and newspaper articles across all subjects.
Emerald
Emerald is a key database for topics such as business, management, HR and marketing but also includes significant engineering, property development, built environment and transportation collections.
IEEE Xplore
Access to the full text of Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers content, including articles, books and conference proceedings, published since 1988 as well as selected content published since 1893.
ProQuest One Academic
The world’s largest curated collection of journals, ebooks, dissertations, news, video and primary sources, all in one place.