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HVAC/R: Research Tools

Articles in Periodicals (Trade Journals, Magazines, Newspapers, & Scholarly Journals)

SCC Library has magazines, trade publications and other periodicals which students may borrow.

Many are also available online in the SCC Library databases, including ProQuest and ​Associates Programs Source Plus

Print periodicals in the library:

  • Popular Science
  • Popular Mechanics

Examples of periodicals in ProQuest:

  • Contractor
  • Heating, Plumbing, Air Conditioning
  • Manufacturing Engineering
  • Industrial Heating
  • Snips

Examples of periodicals in Associates Programs Source Plus:

  • Air Conditioning and Refrigeration News
  • Process Cooling and Equipment
  • Reeves Journal: Plumbing, Heating, Cooling
  • Heating and Ventilation Review
  • Industrial Heating
  • Process Heating
  • Heating, Piping, Air Conditioning Engineering

Article examples for in-class demonstration

Example search in ProQuest: hvac AND green*

  • narrow date
  • select only: trade journals

Example article:

Example search in Associates Programs Source Plus: hvac AND trends

Example articles:

Searching for Articles in Library Databases

Search in SCC library databases for articles on topics of your choice.

Search tips:

  • KEYWORDS: Use keywords in your searching. Select words you predict will appear in an article title or description.
  • PHRASES: Use phrase searching for a phrase of two words or more. Enclose a phrase in quotation marks.
  • TRUNCATION: Truncate search terms using an asterisk. For example, the search term:  fabricat*  will retrieve instances of any word starting with f-a-b-r-i-c-a-t, like fabricate, fabricator, fabricating, etc.
  • BOOLEAN OPERATORS: Combine multiple search concepts using Boolean terms: AND, OR, NOT

Example searches:

hvac*

hvac AND recycling

hvac AND "energy efficiencey"

"employee retention"

"employee retention" AND hvac*

"hvac industry" AND trend*

"ecm technology" and hvac*

Use search words and phrases you think will be in the article title, description, or full-text

refrigeration AND repair

"air conditioning" AND compressor AND maintenance

hvac AND trends

"leak detection"

"Air conditioning industry"

refrigerants AND "safety measures"

flanges

valves

Books and eBooks

HVAC book cover art    HVAC Licensing book cover art   

From the SCC Library homepage, search the library catalog to find books on a variety of subjects.

Try searches like these: 

  • HVAC
  • Heating and ventilation 
  • Refrigeration and refrigerating machinery
  • Air conditioning
  • Heating
  • Ventilation

Example  reference books:

  • Handbook of Air Conditioning and Refrigeration (Wang, 1993)
  • How Products Are Made: An Illustrated Guide to Product Manufacturing
  • International Building Code

Example ebooks:

  • HVAC Fundamentals
  • Fundamentals of HVAC Systems
  • Managing Indoor Air Quality
  • Indoor Air Quality Case Studies Reference Guide
  • Ventilation and Airflow in Buildings: Methods for Diagnosis and Evaluation
  • Encyclopedia of Network Blueprints

Tips about Searching for HVAC/R Articles in Library Databases

 Which term should I use for HVAC?

Because the term HVAC/R can be written in a variety of ways (HVAC-R, HVACR, etc.) it's a good strategy to use a search technique called truncation when searching for periodical articles in library databases.

Databases like ProQuest and Associates Programs Source Plus allow this type of advanced searching where typing:

 hvac*

will retrieve articles containing any word in the article which starts with the spelling h-v-a-c. (The asterisk acts as a wildcard.)

Try a variety of search terms