Library Search and find

Books are independently published works. A distinction is made, for example, between monographs (one author or a team of authors is jointly responsible for the complete contents of the work) and collective works (there is a publisher or a team of publishers and various authors who are responsible for individual contributions). A book is indicated as follows:

Engst Judith (2015) Professionelles Bewerben: von der Stellensuche bis zum erfolgreichen Vorstellungsgespräch. 3rd updated conditions, Berlin: Dudenverlag.

Books can be found in catalogs (articles, essays from anthologies not!)

WebKatalog - local collection with the option of inter-library loans service throughout Germany
BOSS - Local collection (print and digital) and inter-library loans service in the SWB (mainly libraries from Baden-Württemberg)
KVK - Collection of libraries in Germany & internationally

E-books are books published to the campus network in electronic form so that several people can usually access them at the same time. Access is possible from outside the campus network after registration for university members (see above).
The publishers determine the download modalities, so that these can vary greatly: from downloading the entire book to downloading 10% of the contents, everything is possible.

An e-book is cited in the same way as a print book (see Books).

E-books can be found in catalogs, databases, databanks and on publishers' websites:

• eBook General Catalog (Here you can also find eBooks that have not been licensed by HS Aalen)
• WebKatalog (Here you will only find eBooks that have been licensed by HS Aalen)
• BOSS (Local collection and eBooks that have not been licensed by HS Aalen. eBooks cannot be appointed to inter-library loans services).
• Database, databank (DBIS): Collection of e-books (the e-books available here are not listed in the WebKatalog)
• SpringerLink (here you will find the entire range of Springer Verlag)
  

Articles, essays, also called articles or papers, are dependent works that appear either in a journal, periodical, magazine or in conference proceedings. Here is an example of the citation of a journal article:

Masoud, Najeb (2014) Banking Sector in Libya: can the six sigma concept be a solution? in: The Journal of Private Equity, Vol. 17, Issue 2, p. 69-80

An article, essay is indicated by the word "In" and the page number.
Articles, essays are usually not referenced in catalogs. So always look in a catalog for the journal, periodical, magazine or book in which the article appeared. (see Journals Print & Online)

You can search for articles, essays on a specific topic here:

• BOSS- with a search query, not only the local collection is searched, but also the contents of most of the databases, databanks licensed by Aalen University of Applied Sciences.
• Database Information System (DBIS) - selection of databases, databanks on various topics.

Journals are works that are published periodically, e.g. monthly in the form of issues. All journal issues of a year are a class, also known as a volume. A journal issue contains articles or essays by different authors. Examples of a journal, periodical, magazine:

• Journal, periodical magazine for cultural management
• Humanistic Management Journal

You can find journals, periodicals, magazines here:

• WebKatalog - local collection (print & online) and link to the journal database (ZDB) via "inter-library loans - journal articles" with the option to appoint individual articles to the inter-library loans service.
• Electronic Journals Library (EZB) - journal holdings online throughout Germany. A traffic light system tells you whether and if so which classes are available for the institution of higher education. Link to the full texts available.
• Zeitschriftendatenbank (ZDB) - Print and online journal holdings in Germany and Austria, without ordering option. None proof of individual journal articles.
• SpringerLink - The archive contains the full texts of over 1,050 journals, periodical, magazines of Springer-Verlag (including Kluwer).

• A patent secures the inventor the sole exploitation right for a maximum of 20 years. Thus, patent specifications document the valid from School of Engineering worldwide.
• Standards are jointly defined rules of School of Engineering, which are published for Germany by the German Department, Institute for Standardization (DIN) in Berlin. They can be searched for in the database, databank.

Patents and standards can be found here:

Database, databank information system (DBIS) - Collection: Standards and patents

Special delivery services if you have none of the above patent and standards databases to access the full text of the document:

• PATONline - online patent delivery service for more than 32 million German and foreigners patent information, delivery of patents as PDF, TIFF or paper copies (fax/print).
• TIB-Portal - a service offered by the Hanover Technical Information Library: Search in technical and natural sciences specialist information and fast delivery of standards in electronic and printed form.

Teaching and training videos in various languages can be found via the video streaming portal LinkedIn Learning. Please note that an account must be created.

Statistics are written; in writing, summaries of the results of mass studies, usually in the form of tables or graphical representations. (see Duden, retrieved on 26.1.2018)

Statistics can be found here:

Database, databank information system (DBIS) - Collection: Statistics

A doctoral thesis is a piece of scholarly scientific research and writing written for the purpose of obtaining a doctorate (see Duden, retrieved on 29.1.18). Doctoral theses are subject to publication requirements and can therefore be found in the following research sources:

• German National Library (DNB) - To search for German or Swiss doctoral theses, enter the term "diss" in the search field "Hochschulschriftenvermerk" and combine the search with possible titles or keywords.
• Database, databank information system (DBIS) - Collection: doctoral theses, doctoral dissertations and other final theses

Bachelor's, German university degree (UK)/master's (US) and state examination theses are not usually published to the public. These final theses are rarely collected and awarded, but are often only available to the Department as examination documents.

At Aalen University of Applied Sciences, the OPUS repository is used to publish final theses from the Ophthalmic Optics degree program and parts of the W faculty. These electronic final theses can also be found in the WebCatalog, just like the theses submitted in print. To do this, enter "final thesis" as a keyword in the "Advanced search" and combine this with a possible title word, for example. A list of all final theses available in the library can be found under the left menu item "Final theses".

Regional newspapers:

• Schwäbische Post
• Economy, business regional

National newspapers:

• Süddeutsche Zeitung
• Stuttgarter Zeitung
• The Parliament

Foreigners newspapers:

• Financial Times

We keep older issues for approx. 2 weeks. Please ask at the Service Point if you are interested.

Further national and international daily and weekly newspapers can be found in the database, databank WISO under Press.

Tips for literature research for business degree programs:

ZBW - Leibniz Information Center for Economy, Business

Tips for literature research for technical degree programs:

German National Library of Science and Technology (TIB)

AI tools for scientific literature research can be divided into two categories:

Finders

• Search with phrases or complete questions
• Mainly finds journal articles in English that have a DOI and have been published in open access
• Finds few books
• Good for natural sciences and medicine subjects
• Not very suitable for social sciences and humanities
• Examples: Consensus; Elicit; ORKGAsk (data protection compliant)
• Further Information onFinders can be found here.

Connectors

• The starting point for the search is a paper that has already been found (seed paper) and its DOI
• Based on citations and thematic relationships, visual interactive maps of publication networks are created
• Very quick access to a topic - particularly suitable as an introduction to a search
• Examples: Open Knowledge Maps, Research Rabbit, Local Citation Network (focus on data protection)
• Further Information on Connectors can be found here.

Important notes on use

• Observe data protection: do not enter any personal data
• Respect copyright: do not upload any protected documents (lecture notes or journal articles that have not been published open access)
• Check critically: always check AI-generated contents 
• Observe internal university regulations: Assistance for the use of generative artificial intelligence by students

Recommendation

AI tools are a valuable addition, but not a substitute for traditional research methods. Use them as intelligent support, not as your sole source of information. They are particularly helpful as a starting point for research. The library's research tools can be found at DBIS.

We particularly recommend the interdisciplinary database, databank Scopus AI. As with the Finders, you can enter your research question here, so there is no need for search terms such as keywords. The hits here come from the database index and are therefore of high scientific quality.

Assessment of the use of chatbots for 1. science and scholarshop (allg.) literature research

Since early 2025, chatbots such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, and Claude have improved significantly thanks to live access to the web and features such as “deep research.” Nevertheless, problems with hallucinated or incorrect references continue to occur. In addition, the generated responses often list only a limited number of relevant publications. Currently, “general-purpose AI chatbots” therefore do not yet offer any significant added value or noticeable time savings in scientific research.