FAST START - Introduction to Patents, Patent Searching, and Using Patents for Research

Patents are primary source documents and can supplement the traditional literature searches in your disciplines. Patents have more detailed information about a technology than any other type of scientific or technical publication: they can be used to discover new areas of research, for ideas to improve existing research, or to see if a product has already been developed. Learn about patents as intellectual property, how to determine the classification or technology areas that corresponds to your research, how to search patents and patent applications, and using patents for research.