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DR-NTU User Guides

This guide provides information about submitting your works (FYP, Thesis and paper) to NTU digital repository (DR-NTU).

Search & Access

Understanding Access Labels
Publication Open Access
 The full content is accessible to everyone.
Publication Embargo
 Temporarily unavailable; will be available after a specific period, i.e. after the embargo elapsed.
Publication Restricted
 Access limited to NTU community only (login required).
Publication Metadata Only
 Only the title and abstract are available.

What do these labels mean?

If the paper you are searching for is not accessible, it may be embargoed or restricted.
Reach out to library@ntu.edu.sg for enquiries.

You can start with a basic search by typing in all the keywords in the search box, run a search, and apply the Filters as necessary.

If you want to have a more structured search, you can use Advanced Search via the Research Papers, Theses, or FYPs tabs. 

This is how Advanced Search looks like on DR-NTU. With multiple lines structure, you can type in keywords representing different concepts in separate lines and specify the search field for each line.

Search Tips

🧠 Boolean Operators

Use Boolean logic to combine search terms. Operators must be written in UPPERCASE.

  • AND – narrows results to include all terms
  • OR – broadens results to include any of the terms
  • NOT – excludes items containing the specified term
  • Use parentheses () if you need to group search terms
Examples:
  • renewable AND energy → finds items with both terms
  • petroleum OR kerosene → finds items with either term
  • energy NOT oil → finds items with "energy" excluding "oil"
  • (renewable OR green) AND energy → finds items with either "renewable" or "green", and must include the term "energy'
🔎 What is Not Searched: Stop Words

Certain very common English words are ignored by the search engine. These include:

"a", "and", "are", "as", "at", "be", "but", "by", "for", "if", "in", "into",
"is", "it", "no", "not", "of", "on", "or", "such", "the", "to", "was"
🗣️ Phrase Searching

Use quotation marks ("") to search for an exact phrase.

Example: "climate change"
✨ Truncation

Use an asterisk (*) at the end of a word root to search for all its variations.

Example: organ*
Finds: organic, organs, organizing, organised, organisations, etc.

You are expected to comply with University policies and guidelines namely, Appropriate Use of Information Resources Policy, IT Usage Policy and Social Media Policy. Users will be personally liable for any infringement of Copyright and Licensing laws.
Unless otherwise stated, all guide content is licensed by CC BY-NC 4.0.