IEEE Xplore Digital Library is a digital database specializing in computer science, engineering and chemistry areas. IEEE or the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, is an organization that works to promote the advancement of technology. With over 460,000 members and over two thousand and seven hundred chapters, IEEE is the largest professional technical organization on engineering and technology. IEEE Xplore Digital Library reflects the organization’s mission. The database contains over 1.5 million research articles on a range of topics related to engineering and the sciences. Beyond research articles, IEEE Xplore contains over 4 million conference papers, 14,000 technical standards and over sixty-six thousand books. While the university libraries’ subscription coverage does not include access to all of these resources, the records alone can aid in discoverability of useful resources.
Some subjects covered by IEEE Xplore resources include: aerospace, bioengineering, communication and networking, geoscience, and nuclear engineering to name a few. The collection includes journals published by highly reputable institutions such as MIT Press, TUP, Oxford University Press and IBM. Interested students and faculty can use the IEEE Xplore Digital Library to not just find relevant resources for their papers and articles but also keep up to date with new publications and conference papers.
Interested users have a variety of searching options. To illustrate IEEE Xplore Digital Library’s wonderful searching options, we’ll search for nanomaterials. Let’s start with a basic search. By typing in ‘nanomaterials’ in the basic search option and clicking the ‘search’ icon, we get 7764 results. Using the filters on the left-hand side of the results page, I can limit my results to sources more relevant to my interests. I can apply the publication type filter to exclude unwanted formats. For instance, if I wanted to look for only books, I can choose books narrowing my results to 68 results. Scrolling through the list, I can find books which are relevant to my topic or I can try different search terms and begin again.
Results in basic search still too broad? Users have the option of performing either an advanced search, a command search, or a citation search. Advanced search provides users with the option of using Boolean operators and specific field searches. Command search alternatively allows users to build complex search queries based on specific fields and Boolean operators. There are also proximity searching Boolean operators that are unique to IEEE Xplore Digital Library. Citation searching provides options to search based on bibliographic information of specific materials. These alternative ways of search seem unique to IEEE Xplore Digital Library and are worth exploring.
Maybe you are starting out on a project and just want to see what resources are out there for any given topic. Browsing IEEE Xplore Digital Library resources might be an easy way to see how much research there has been for a given topic. I can browse based on format type as well as the publication title, topic and publisher. Not all of these searching options may be the best for all users but with so many options, there are plenty of ways to find what you need. IEEE Xplore Digital Library includes a popular search terms page. Using the graphic, users can see the top ten most searched terms in IEEE Xplore. They can also see the number of documents in IEEE Xplore Digital Library associated with the searched term.
You can also create an account with IEEE Xplore Digital Library to keep track of research material you are interested in. Users can create Research Projects and export bibliographic citations of relevant articles on their research topic. Users can add their own personal notes to remind themselves of why they found the resource noteworthy. This can be useful if you are later trying to remember why certain articles were useful to you.
IEEE Xplore Digital Library is a powerful tool which can be useful to students just starting out in their major to experienced professionals looking for the latest research. Try IEEE Xplore Digital Library out today and see for yourself how it can improve your research!