Technical Reports

Technical Reports

Technical reports are different from magazine and scholarly journal articles because they each stand alone like a book. However, most technical reports are part of a series of technical reports, such as NASA Technical Memorandum or JPL Technical Report. Each report in a series is identified by the series title and a specific number, for example NASA TM-18492. Technical reports are somewhat like very short books. To find a journal article, you would look for the journal in the library or out on the web. To find a technical report, you would search the library’s catalog either for the report series name, for example NASA Technical Memorandum, or by the title of the specific report.

• Search Engines for Technical Reports
• Retrieving Technical Reports
• Standards
• Finding Patents

Search Engines for Technical Reports

Governmental Technical Reports

The United States government is the largest producer of technical reports and several agencies of the government have provided search engines for their publications.

Science.gov

A meta-search engine that attempts to provide wide public access and a unified search of the government’s vast stores of scientific and technical information. A good place to start searching.

DTIC

Defense Technical Information Center lists reports on Defense Department research.

Energy Citations Database.

Covers reports of research conducted for the U.S. Department of Energy. It includes a lot of research on materials.

NACA

The National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics preceded NASA during the years 1917 – 1958.

NTIS

The National Technical Information Service database includes research sponsored by all government departments. It covers a lot of research on social and political issues but it also includes NASA, Dept. of Defense, U.S. Geological Survey, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and other technical agencies.

NTRS

This is the NASA Technical Report Server. It lists almost all reports produced by NASA. A few of the more recent reports are available for downloading from the web.

Non-governmental Technical Reports

Many universities and companies also produce technical reports. Here are some search engines for non-governmental technical reports.

NCSTRL

The Networked Computer Science Technical Reference Library. This is a collaborative project involving NASA Langley, Old Dominion University, University of Virginia and Virginia Tech.

OAIster Search

Another metasearch engine covering academic sources including technical reports.

Retrieving Technical Reports

Some technical reports are available right here in the Kennedy Library, some can be down loaded from the web, while others will need to be obtained through the Library’s Interlibrary Loan Service.

For help in deciphering report numbers and designations to identify the agency that published the report, consult:

Directory of Engineering Document Sources.

Call Number: (Reference. T10.7 .D57)

Englewood, CO: Global Engineering Documents, 1997.

PolyCat

PolyCat lists what is available at Cal Poly. You must, however, search several different ways to make sure we do or do not have the reports you are looking for.

1. Do a TITLE search using the report’s title.
2. Do a WORD search on the significant words in the report series title. For example: NASA Technical Memorandum, Open File Reports.

Report Series

Most technical reports in the Kennedy Library are listed only by their report series. In order to find out whether we have the particular report you are looking for, you must go to the report series and search for your particular report number. Some report series are:

• Jet Propulsion Laboratory ((Gov. Docs.) NAS 1.12/3-7:)
• NACA Research Memorandums ((Gov. Docs)Y 3.N21/5: 15/nos.)
• NACA Reports ((Gov. Docs.)Y 3.N21/5:5.5/nos.)
• NACA Technical Memorandums ((Gov. Docs.) Y 3.N21/5: 8/nos)
• NACA Technical Notes ((Gov. Docs.) Y 3.N21/5: 6/nos.)
• NACA Wartime Reports ((Gov. Docs.) Y 3.N21/5: 11/nos.)
• NASA Conference Publications ((Gov. Docs.) NAS 1.55:)
• NASA Contractor report ((Gov. Docs.) NAS 1.26:)
• NASA Memorandum ((Gov. Docs.) NAS 1.10:)
• NASA Reference Publications ((Gov. Docs.) NAS1.61:)
• NASA Special Publications ((Gov. Docs.) NAS 1.21:)
• NASA Tech Briefs ((Gov. Docs.) NAS 1.29:)
• NASA Technical Memorandum ((Gov. Docs.) NAS 1.15:)
• NASA Technical Note ((Gov. Docs.) NAS 1.14:)
• NASA Technical Paper ((Gov. Docs.) NAS 1.60:)
• NASA Technical Reports ((Gov. Docs.) NAS1.12:)

University Reports

Virtual Technical Report Center, University of Maryland.

EPrints, Preprints, & Technical Reports on the Web. When you are looking for a copy of university report, this site will provide hyperlinks out to the online report series.