Patents, standards, and technical reports

What are technical reports?

Technical reports are research documents produced by academic, government or industry/research organizations.

Where can I find references to technical reports?

Many article and research databases list references to technical reports.

For example:

• Compendex (covers all aspects of engineering)
• Scopus (multidisciplinary)

Where can I find the full text of technical reports?

1. Search McGill's collections

   • Use keywords to search for the report title or organization name in the Library Catalogue
   • For reports by McGill staff & students, consult:
     • McGill Engineering Technical Reports (Civil & Mechanical Engineering)
     • McGill Computer Science Technical Reports
     • Websites of individual labs/research groups (e.g. McGill Computer Networks Research Lab)

2. Not available at McGill? Search the internet

   • Online Technical Reports (list of links to sources for US government technical reports)
   • TRAIL: Technical Reports Archive and Image Library (for research sponsored by the US federal government primarily up to 1975)
   • OSTI.GOV (includes technical reports sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy in chemistry, physics, materials, environmental science, geology, engineering, mathematics, climatology, oceanography, and computer science)
   • Or search for the website of the organization directly (tip: search the organization's name AND technical reports e.g. IBM AND technical reports):

     • Academic institutions

       For example: MIT

     • Government agencies/departments

       For example:

       Canada

       Search Government of Canada publications (search "technical report")

       United States

       NTIS (National Technical Information Service)

       NASA Technical Reports

       Environmental Protection Agency publications

     • Industry/research organizations

       For example: IBM technical paper archive

   • If the technical report you need is neither available at McGill nor freely available on the Internet, order it through COLOMBO Interlibrary Loans.