Use the PerX pilot service to find engineering related: articles, full text eprints, books, thesis & dissertations, websites, the latest industry news, job announcements, technical reports, technical data, the latest research, teaching and learning resources and more.

The PerX search feature lets you cross-search over 20 different collections relevant to engineering. It lets you search these collections directly, without having to visit individual sites. Direct links to individual collections which may offer enhanced search functionality and features are also provided. These links may be accessed via the question mark icons beside the collection names on the advanced search or results pages.

Basic Searching

Using the basic search screen, enter the keyword terms you want to search for, then select a pre-defined search category using the pull down menu (e.g. Articles, Thesis & Dissertations, Technical Reports etc). A basic search with multiple words will match records containing all of the terms (Boolean AND).

Advanced Searching

The advanced search screen can be used to formulate more complex queries and also allows you to hand-select specific collection(s) for searching.

The advanced search can be used to;

    * Match records with all of the words (Boolean AND)
    * Match records with the exact phrase
    * Match records with at least one of the words(Boolean OR)
    * Match records without particular words (Boolean NOT)

Advanced search features may not function as expected in a small minority of collections.

Search Results

Once you have entered a search term and clicked on the Search button, the results will start appearing on a Results Summary page as soon as any of the collections produce hits. The status of the search on the other collections is displayed, and you can refresh the display at any time by using the 'Update' buttons.

Click on 'go to results' to see individual records from your chosen collection.

To the left of the Results page is a Brief Summary table, so that you can select results from a different database/collection if you wish.

You can also view descriptions of any of the individual collections by clicking on the 'question mark' icon beside the collection name.

You can page through your results, and choose to View Full Record for more details.

Often, you can click on the title to go through to the full text, or to get information about how to locate or acquire the full text.

If you want to refine your search, click on Edit Search.

Previous Searches

This lets you review the list of searches already conducted in your session. It is possible to edit or re-run previous searches.

Search Hints

Too many results? Try being more specific with your search terms, or use Advanced Search options.

Too few results? Try using broader search terms, or synonyms, or enter more words.

Locating the full text

In many cases, the full text of items will be freely available (e.g. from the following collections: arXiv, CiteSeer, CSA Hot Topics, EEVL Ejournal Search Engine, ePrints UK, EEVL Website Search Engine, OneStep Jobs, OneStep Industry News).

In some cases, the full items are just details of books or websites (e.g. from the following collections: Copac, EEVL, Aerade, PSIgate, Pearson Education, SearchLT Engineering) and to get the full text you will need to click through to the website, or find a library which holds a book, or buy a copy of a book.

In some cases, the full text of items may be available to you if your institution subscribes, or by pay per view. This is the case with the following collections: Recent Advances in Manufacturing, Inderscience Journals, JORUM, IOP Electronic Journals.

For more assistance or information about PerX, contact:

Roddy MacLeod
PerX Project Manager
Heriot Watt University
EH14 4AS
e-mail: R.A.MacLeod@hw.ac.uk
phone: 0131 451 3576
fax: 0131 451 3164