Research Guides: Electrical and Computer Engineering: Background Information

ECE Background Information

What is background information? How can it help you?

You may be familiar with popular sources of background information such as Wikipedia. This guide will help you learn about professional and scholarly sources of background information.

Theses source can help you:

Narrow a paper/research topic
Identify the social impact of your topic
Help you learn a little bit about a topic before get started
Fill in knowledge gaps
And more ...

Handbooks at NJIT Libraries == Best Bets

Why use handbooks?

Handbooks are trusted and reliable sources of many kinds of information that practicing engineers need to have "on hand." Many have been around for generations and are now available online.

Handbooks provide information such as:

Design basics
Introductory materials
Data/Tables/Figures
References
Definitions
Formulae

Search NJIT Library for electrical engineering handbooks in our print collection -- try the search "electrical engineering" AND handooks

Try other word combinations to find more specific types of handbooks.

AccessEngineering from McGraw-Hill
An engineering reference and teaching platform that delivers interdisciplinary engineering content integrated with analytical teaching and learning tools.
Springer Nature Link: Synthesis Collection of Technology eBooks
NJIT has selected access to (collections 1-4) Morgan & Claypool Synthesis Digital Library of Engineering and Computer Science ebooks. Other collections may be available via Ebook Central.
O'Reilly for Higher Education
Famously known for its computer science books, O'Reilly now offers an extensive online database from many publishers, including Packt, Pearson, and HarperCollins. This database is jam packed with books, videos, and other tutorial formats that cover every known field in computer science. Please note that from even on-campus you will be prompted to login to this resource.

Government sources for background information

Why search for government sources?

The U.S. government does research and development in many areas in electrical and computer engineering. Government websites are a useful place to get an overview of what's being researched by the government. Consumer information found on government websites is also useful -- it can provide a good framework to identify important current issues.

NTRS -- NASA Technical Reports Servers

DTIC -- Defense Technical Information Centers

NIST -- Search NIST to find news about materials used in specific types of designs. Find the research behind it using a library database or Google Scholar.

SciTech- U.S. Dept of Energy

Federal Communications Commission

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

National Telecommunications and Information Administration (U.S. Department of Commerce)

Pro TIP: Do a google search with "site.gov" and find more government information about your topic.