SP.722/2.722: D-Lab: Design 

Country Data + Facts
How many people in your area have access to clean water, electricity, etc?

Industry Overviews
What are the trends and performace data for your industry?

Market Research
Who else is developing products or services like yours?  what is the potential market size in the countries you are working in?

See our video tutorials for help using the MIT Libraries and all of its resources.

Find journal articles

Search a bibliographic database:

• Agricola: worldwide resources on agriculture
• Compendex: covers all fields of engineering. 
• Environmental Sciences and Pollution Management Collection
• Inspec: covers physics, electrical engineering and electronics, computing and control, and information technology. 
• PubMed: biomedical and life sciences literature. View the video tutorial on using PubMed.
• SciFinder: rich chemistry/biology database; Registration required.

Don't know what database to start with?  Try Vera Multi-Search. Change the subject category (Interdisciplinary, Engineering, Social Sciences, etc) to seach a subset of databases in that discipline.

Find books

Search the MIT Libraries catalog: Barton

Tip: Finding a proper subject heading can be a useful way to find information. Try a subject search to find books on a topic. The following list offers several examples of subjects used in our catalog.

• Pedal-powered mechanisms
• Appropriate technology
• Sanitation - Developing Countries
• Sustainable Development

Books, handbooks, reports for your project

Selected resources that you may find useful. This is NOT a comprehensive list.

• Appropriate Technology Library: A full-text collection of over one thousand publications covering projects and technical information
  • AT Sourcebook: index to publications
  • Publications are on CD-ROMS in the Barker Library stacks, 6th Floor: T49.5.A86 2002
• Books 24x7: Full-text e-books in engineering, including topics like Sustainable Energy & Development
  
• Knovel: Engineering and Scientific Handbooks
  • A full text collection of hundreds of handbooks and reference sources
• Patents: patents can show you similar devices and how they work
  

Angie Locknar - Engineering and Science Libraries

Darcy Duke - Barker Engineering Library

Ask Us! if you have questions

Research Consultations- appointments with subject experts for in-depth help

Tell Us! how we can serve you better. We want to hear from you.

• RefWorks (for organizing your citations and citing properly)

• Stellar page for 2.722/SP.722  D-Lab: Design