Introduction to Research for Mechanical Systems EngineeringUsing the Library Resource Centre
Melanie Parlette-Stewart, BA, MLISProgram LiaisonFebruary 2013
I AM . . .
Melanie Parlette-StewartLRC Program Liaison School of Engineering and Information Technology
Email: [email protected]: @ConestogaLib_MP
TODAY we will :
1. Improve your search skills through “pre-searching” and “re-searching” to refine keyword strategies
2. Locate various types of resources to balance your research with high quality information from the LRC’s collections
3. Understand the criteria you can use to evaluate resources to ensure they are of good quality.
4. Discover resources to assist you in creating proper citations
Off-Campus Access PIN NUMBERS - You can use your PIN to:
• Access resources from Off-Campus• Renew a book, place a hold• Review your account
Visit the LRC to get your PIN.
Don’t forget to bring your student card
with the 2013 sticker on it!
YOUR Research Guidehttp://bit.ly/MechanicalSys
Key Tabs: • Articles from Databases• Books . . .• Cite Your Sources• Contact Us
LRC Homepage Research Help Engineering Mechanical Systems Engineering
Finding A Source to Answer Your Question• Where do we begin?
• Google• Wikipedia• Other suggestions…
Types of SourcesWhat’s the Difference?
Scholarly Journals Popular Magazines Trade Journals Conference Papers Technical Reports
• Scholarly research or projects.
• Illustrations are usually charts and graphs.
• Authors are authorities in their field. Often professors or researchers.
• Peer review process is in place where the content of an article is reviewed by one or more experts in the field.
Examples:IEEE/ASME transactions on mechatronics
• General interest articles, entertainment, or information aimed at the consumer. Usually colour photographs and illustrations.
• Articles are usually written by magazine staff, freelance writers, or may be anonymous.
• No peer review or refereeing process.
Examples:Wired, Popular Mechanics
• Industry related information, news and trends. Some illustrations.
• Authors are industry experts, professionals, or practitioners who are not always identified
• Typically no peer review or refereeing process.
Examples:ASME Mechanical Engineering Magazine
• Author is scholar in field, academic or researcher
• Conference papers tend to be more recent than journal articles, but may be considered less authoritative depending on the review and acceptance process
• Peer Review Process may or may not be rigorous
Example:Proceedings of ASME Heat Transfer Division
• Author is often a scholar or a scientist, engineer, government contractor, or technical personnel.
• Published by a corporation or educational institution
• Reputation is everything • Typically not peer
reviewedExample:Design and Fabrication of a Tank-Applied Broad Area Cooling Shield Coupon
Balanced Research
Encyclopedias
Books
Scholarly Journals
NewspapersProfessional
Magazine (aka Trade
Journals)
Conference Papers
Technical Papers
Websites
Effective research taps into a variety of sources
Choosing Better Sources • How can you tell trustworthy information (the “better” information) from less-
trustworthy information (“worse” information)?
The CARS Test• Credibility Look for believable, well written information
that is free of bias. Locate information about the author(s) and their credentials. How credible are the authors, what is their level of expertise on this particular topic.
• Accuracy The information should be up-to-date, clear. You
can confirm accuracy by locating information from a variety of sources. Look for a last updated date.
• Reasonableness Information should be present objective and balanced arguments.
• Support Other sources should support the information
found. Always look for a reference list, bibliography or citations demonstrating where the information came from.
Pre-Searching:Thinking About Your Search
• What are the keywords or phrases in the question that you would use in your search?
• Also think of synonyms and related terms….
Pre-Searching:
Related Terms or Synonyms (words that mean the same as the first term, above)
Related Terms or Synonyms (words that mean the same as the first term, above)
Academic Performance
Let’s Research : LRC Discover Tool
http://www.conestogac.on.ca/lrc/
Facebook and Academic Performance
Searching A Database. . . Search Costs
Actually let’s search Life Cycle Costs
The power of the *
Life Cycle Cost*
Let’s add Energy
Narrow by Publication
Date
Narrow by Peer Reviewed
* (the asterisk wildcard)As the name implies, * can be substituted for any number of letters. This is particularly useful to include all words with a certain term and any suffix after it. Simply apply the asterisk to the end of a term and it will return all documents containing that term, followed by anything. For example: biostatistic* will find biostatistician or biostatistics or biostatistical
Searching A Database. . .
Mechanical Engineering
“Mechanical Engineering”
Expand Search by including Full Text
Publication Date 2007 -
2013
Narrow by Peer
Reviewed
Add to RefWorks
Quotation Marks: " "Enclose specific phrases in quotation marks. This will direct the search engine to search the database for documents containing that exact phrase. A search for analytical chemist (without quotes) will return any document containing analytical and chemist with anything in between. If you place quotes around the phrase, searching for “facility management“ it will only documents with facility and management right beside each other.
Let’s Re/search:
. . . and again: don’t forget to Re/Search: Full Text Date Source Type Subject
Don’t forget to try using other “PRE-SEARCHING” terms:Ex: Social Networks and Media and Grades
WHAT IS GOOGLE SCHOLAR?
A search interface for locating citations to academic research—and accessing the full-text online (sometimes).
This is the definition of any research database.
Google Scholar is just one more in a host of research tools similar to those offered by the library (but using it is free to all).
Reading articles found in it is not free (not always, anyway).
What can you search using google scholar?“…articles, theses, books, abstracts and court opinions, from academic publishers, professional societies, online repositories, universities and other web sites.”
• Some resources are “open access,” i.e. free• Many have a cost-per-article• The LRC can help improve access to the costly articles (but
more on that later)
Google. (2011). About Google Scholar. Retrieved from http://scholar.google.ca/intl/en/scholar/about.html
What can’t you find using google scholar?• Google doesn’t search everything, and neither does Google
Scholar• Only searches “scholarly” sources • So it does not search the following resources:
• Newspapers• Trade Magazines• Professional Magazines• General Interest Magazines
Google ≠ Good• What exactly is included? We don’t know and Google won’t
say.• Calls into question content providers, i.e. how does Google
define “scholarly”?• Good for “casual” research, but not acceptable as a single
source for coverage of the literature on a topic.• Coverage is unknown• Relevancy Ranking of search results is questionable• Narrowing/sorting search results is rudimentary• No controlled vocabulary• Citations may be inaccurate due to reliance of web crawling
extraction (e.g. Author Name: P Login)
Jacsó, P. Google Scholar's ghost authors. Library Journal 134: 26-27.
Linking to LRC resources• Go to Google Scholar (http://scholar.google.ca)• Click “Scholar Preferences” in upper right hand of the search
page.• On the Scholar Preferences page, in the “Library Links”
section, enter for “Conestoga” in the search box and click “Find Library”.
• Checkboxes appear below the search box.• Checkmark the Conestoga links.• Scroll to the bottom of the page and click “Save Preferences.”
• Your searches will now show links to Conestoga LRC resources that contain articles from your search results.
Citing our SourcesIt's important to cite sources you used in your research for several reasons:
To show your reader you've done proper research by listing
sources you used to get your information
To be a responsible scholar by giving credit to other
researchers and acknowledging their ideas
To avoid plagiarism by quoting words and ideas used by
other authors
To allow your reader to track down the sources you used
by citing them accurately in your paper by way of
footnotes, a bibliography or reference list
Let’s Cite our Sources:
Don’t forget to check the style guides to make sure your citation is correct.
Need more sources?
Explore the “Mechanical Systems Engineering” Research Help Guide to discover Databases focused on Mechanical Engineering.
These database have: Advanced Search Tools Subject Specific Material
http://exploreguides.conestogac.on.ca/MSE
SummaryResearching using the LRC
Use Discovery Search first www.conestogac.on.ca/lrc
After that, try a relevant Research Help guide for links to even more resources to search http://exploreguides.conestogac.on.ca/MSE
Remember no ‘citation generator’ is ever perfect Check it manually using the Writing Centre’s resources for your Citations Style. www.conestogac.on.ca/learningcommons/resources/writing.jsp