LibGuides: Environmental Technology & Environmental Technician : Technical Reports & Case Studies

Technical Reports or Case Studies

Technical Reports & Case Studies

The library has case studies and technical reports on public projects and from academic scientific research. Finding case studies and technical reports can be a challenge.

Depending on your topic, it may be that there is not a lot freely-published or freely-available material (this is of particular note in the case of private engineering firms working on projects and writing reports for the sole use of their clients).

Databases

Engineering Case Studies Online This link opens in a new window
(ProQuest / Alexander Street Press) Analysis of notable engineering cases and failures throughout history, with information in video, photographic, and textual formats.
Details and Terms of Use
Applied Science and Technology Source This link opens in a new window
(EBSCO) Provides comprehensive research, recent projects and case studies, and news information in all areas of applied science and technology.
Details and Terms of Use
Skillsoft Books (formerly known as Books24x7) This link opens in a new window
(SkillSoft) Provides access to thousands of e-books in the fields of computer and information technology, business, and engineering (ITPro, BusinessPro, FinancePro, and EngineeringPro, respectively).
(NOTE: Only selected content from titles' companion CDs is available: "If a title has CD content available, a link to the content will be in the Table of Contents, as well as in appropriate chapters. Also, a direct link to any companion websites is available via the Companion Website tool for applicable titles.")
Details and Terms of Use
CRC ENGnetBASE (via Taylor & Francis eBooks) This link opens in a new window
(Taylor and Francis / CRC Press) A collection of electronic handbooks in civil, mechanical, industrial, electrical, electronic, environmental, mining, and general engineering.
Details and Terms of Use
NRC Research Press This link opens in a new window
(Canadian Science Publishing) Provides access to journals published by the National Research Council and affiliated publishers.
Details and Terms of Use
ScienceDirect This link opens in a new window
(Elsevier) Provides users with access to a wide range of journal articles and full-text e-books in Health and Life Sciences, Physical Sciences and Engineering, Computers and Technology, and the Social and Behavioural Sciences.

- In this database, there is no way to limit a search to our subscribed content only. Only those results with the words "Full text access" or "Open access" are content to which we have access.
Details and Terms of Use

Case Studies Online

Construction Case Studies & Reports

If your topic has anything to do with construction, construction processes, construction materials, etc., you should also use the business databases we have, as construction trade publications that report on both major and minor projects are found in them:

Business Source Premier This link opens in a new window
(EBSCO) Provides access to one of the industry's most used business research databases of magazines, journals, newspapers, reports, profiles, case studies, books and trade publications.
Details and Terms of Use
Engineering Case Studies Online This link opens in a new window
(ProQuest / Alexander Street Press) Analysis of notable engineering cases and failures throughout history, with information in video, photographic, and textual formats.
Details and Terms of Use

Free Technical Reports Online

FIREDOC
FIREDOC is a database that contains a large collection of building and fire research materials from many sources.
NTRL (National Technical Reports Library)
Locate titles of technical reports from NTIS (National Technical Information Service) produced from government-sponsored research. Keyword searches of reports from 1964 through current are available.
NTRS: NASA Technical Reports Server
NASA's technical information including research reports, journal articles, conference and meeting papers, technical videos, mission-related operational documents, and preliminary data, is searchable and often retrievable from this server. A search using the Advanced Search also searches scientific and technical information from sites external to NASA.
OSTI.GOV, US DOE
The Department of Energy's (DOE) search engine for scientific and technical information produced by DOE-generated & funded research. Under Search Tools are specialized searches for specific resources.
Science.gov
This search engine to United States government agencies web sites includes several that cover technical reports such as the NASA Technical Reports Server, STINET Report Collection (Defense Technical Information Center unclassified documents and citations), USGS Water Resource Reports, SciTech Connect and EPA Environmental Information Management System.
Technical Reports in Seneca Libraries collection
We also have a small collection of sample technical reports in print on Reserve at the front desk of the Newnham Library.
TRAIL: Technical Report Archive and Image Library
Find selected US Government technical reports here (primarily pre-1975).

Search Tips 1-4

Don't rely on searching just for "case studies" or "technical reports." While some writers and researchers will include the actual phrase "case study" or "technical report" in the title of their report, many don't!

Search for your topic and read the abstracts (summaries) to see what each document is really about.

If you're looking for something really niche or specific, you may have to read several articles then take what you learn from each and merge them together.

For example, look for articles on construction generally in your specific type of soil, then find separate articles on the broad category of your product (e.g. if the product brand was a type of geomembrane or geosynthetic, search those words).

When searching our databases, you must limit to "Full Text" in many databases (look for the check-box) in order to get results that allow you to read the full text of documents right on-screen.

And always search more than one database. Different databases have different content from different magazines, journals, etc., so don't spin your wheels in just one of them.

Consider searching the websites of companies that have been involved in actual projects, or that make or use certain products, for free case studies, technical reports, or product information.

It may be confidential or proprietary information between the firm and the client, but you could contact them to see if they would be willing to share some of their information with students.

Actual projects that have been done for a given city or municipality, and their supporting documentation, might be freely-available on city websites, through city planning or engineering departments, or through the provincial or federal governments (e.g. Ontario Ministry of Transportation).