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: mparlettestewart@conestogac.on.caTwitter: @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

Today’s Research Topic is….

•Is there a relationship Facebook use and academic performance?

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)

Facebook

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

Let’s Re/search:

Don’t forget to Re/Search: Full Text Date Source Type Subject

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

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