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Technical Reports

    1. About Technical Reports
    2. Citing Technical Reports
    3. Finding Technical Reports
    4. Get Technical Reports

    About Technical Reports

    best resourceWhat is a technical report?
    A technical report is a document that describes the process, progress, or results of technical or scientific research, or the state of a technical or scientific research problem. Unlike other scientific literature, such as scientific journals and the proceedings of some academic conferences, technical reports rarely undergo comprehensive independent peer review before publication. Where there is a review process, it is often limited to within the originating organization. Similarly, there are no formal publishing procedures for such reports, except where established locally.
    For more information, refer to the following book:
    Information Sources in Grey Literature — PRINT
    Hagerty 2nd Floor T10.7 .A87 1998

    Finding Technical Reports

    How can I find a technical report?
    Many government agencies, laboratories and research centers publish the full texts of their reports online, and many more provide abstracts and citations. With a citation, one can find the full text of a document via the library. To locate a technical report, consult with the resources listed in the Get Technical Reports section of this guide.

    Citing Technical Reports

    How do I cite a technical report?
    Most of the elements of a technical report are similar to those in books, with a few additional details. 

    Significant components of a technical report include the front matter (cover, notices and abstract), the text (summary and report text) and the back matter (distribution list.)

    Be sure you get the following information about each report you plan to cite:

    • Report number (usually found in the upper left corner)
    • Title and subtitle
    • Authors/editors
    • Performing organization
    • Publication date
    • Type of report, if applicable
    • Contract/grant number
    • Sponsoring organization

    Though styles differ marginally, there are two basic formats for citing a technical report.

    The citation-sequence format:

    Author(s) (performing organization). Title. Place of publication: publisher/sponsoring organization; date of publication. Report number. Contract number. Total number of pages. Availability statement. 

    EXAMPLE

    Moray NP, Huey M. Human factors research and nuclear safety. Washington: National Academy Pr; 1988. Contract nr NRC-04-86-381. 122 p. Available from: NTIS, Springfield, VA; PB89-175517. Sponsored by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

    The name-year format:

    Author(s) (performing organization). Date of publication. Title. Place of publication: publisher/ sponsoring organization. Report number. Contract number. Total number of pages. Availability statement. 

    EXAMPLE

    Moray NP, Huey M. 1988. Human factors research and nuclear safety. Washington: National Academy Pr. Contract nr NRC-04-86-381. 122 p. Available from: NTIS, Springfield, VA; PB89-175517. Sponsored by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

    More information about citing a Technical Report

    Many more examples as well as differentiations among government, university or research institutes’ formats are detailed and discussed in the style guide manual for this discipline: 

    Please refer to this book should any questions arise regarding citation:
    Scientific style and format : the CBE manual for authors, editors, and publishers — PRINT
    Hagerty Reference T11 .S386 1994

     

     

     

    Get Technical Reports

    arXiv.org e-Print Archive  

    Provides technical papers in physics, mathematics, and nonlinear sciences. Includes cross-references. Searchable by keyword.

    Bibliographies of Technical Reports of Computer Science Departments

    A searchable index to technical report literature sources, obtained mostly from the Computer Science Technical Report Archive. Some full text.

    Computer Science Technical Reports – Drexel University

    A directory of Drexel University Department of Computer Science Technical Reports listed by year of publication (1992-2008).

    DOE Information Bridge

    The Information Bridge provides an open source to full-text and bibliographic records of Department of Energy (DOE) research and development reports in physics, chemistry, materials, biology, environmental sciences, energy technologies, engineering, computer and information science, renewable energy, and other topics from 1995 forward.

    Energy Citations Database

    Energy Citations contains bibliographic records for energy and energy-related scientific and technical information from the Department of Energy (DOE) and its predecessor agencies; topics include chemistry, physics, materials, environmental science, geology, engineering, mathematics, climatology, oceanography, computer science and related disciplines

    EnergyFiles

    Over 500 databases and Web sites containing information and resources pertaining to science and technology of interest to the Department of Energy, with an emphasis on the physical sciences. A Subject Listing is available.

    BFRL: Research Information Services

    The Building and Fire Research Laboratory (BFRL) Research Information Services is located within the Building and Fire Research Laboratory (BFRL) at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).  Formerly known as the Fire Research Information Services (FRIS).  BFRLRIS is an information resource center to the BFRL staff, fire protection engineers, scientists, and fire service personnel around the world.  The 80,000 document collection represents a vast resource of information on building and fire research related subjects.  The collection is accessible through the on-line bibliographic database FIREDOC.

    Hewlett Packard Technical Reports

    Available here are the abstracts and full texts of HP Labs Technical Reports. Where only the abstract appears, the full text is unavailable due to copyright considerations.

    Jet Propulsion Laboratory Technical Report Server (NASA)

    A database of abstracts, citations and full text technical reports written by and for the scientific and technical community; searchable by keyword or browsable by publication year

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Allows users to search the many different abstract and technical report servers maintained by various NASA centers and programs. NTRS includes access to the full-text of recent reports. Includes NASA RECONSelect.

    National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA)

    Full text of NACA Reports, Technical Notes, and Technical Memoranda from 1917-1958.

    National Technical Information Service (NTIS)

    U.S. government sponsored research and worldwide scientific, technical, and engineering information; unclassified and publicly available from research reports, journal articles, data files, computer programs and audio visual products from federal sources. Fee-based service.

    Networked Computer Science Technical Reference Library (NCSTRL)

    Say “ancestral”. A collection of computer science technical reports from a number of universities with CS and related programs. Abstracts and citations only, searchable by keyword.

    On-line CS Techreports

    International collection, broken down by country and searchable by simple keyword

    Online Technical Reports (MIT)

    Topics include: 

    -  Aeronautics and Astrophysics

    -  Civil and Environmental Engineering

    -  Computer Science and Electrical Engineering

    -  Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences

    -  Energy

    -  Mechanical Engineering

    -  Nuclear Engineering

    -  Ocean Engineering

    E-print Network: Research Communication for Scientists and Engineers (includes PrePRINT Network)

    A searchable gateway to preprint servers that deal with scientific and technical disciplines of concern to DOE. Such disciplines include the great bulk of physics, materials, and chemistry, as well as portions of biology, environmental sciences and nuclear medicine.

    Science.gov

    This is a gateway to authoritative selected science information provided by U.S. Government agencies, including research and development results.

    Scientific and Technical Information Network (STINET)

    Public STINET provides access to all unclassified, unlimited citations to documents added into DTIC from late December 1974 to present. There are also full-text versions of all unclassified, unlimited documents recently added into DTIC technical reports collection from September 1998-present.

    Society of Manufacturing Engineers

    SME publishes hundreds of technical papers annually detailing the theories, applications, and innovations in manufacturing; searchable by keyword

    Virtual Technical Reports Center – University of Maryland

    Institutions listed here provide either full-text reports, or searchable extended abstracts of their technical reports on the World Wide Web. This site contains links to technical reports, preprints, reprints, dissertations, theses, and research reports of all kinds.

    Contrails Aerospace History- Illinois Institute of Technology

    This collection consists of rare, declassified technical reports that chronicle their work and reference resources that discuss the history of flight.

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