Refining Design Focus Through Literature Searching

Morag Coyne

Liaison Librarian for SDE

mcoyne@library.uwaterloo.ca

888-4567 ext. 6860

SYDE 161 Workshop: Information Literacy

Today’s agenda

1. What do I do and why am I here?

2. Overview of Scientific/Technical publishing

3. Searching Journal Indexes for Articlesa. Compendex – Engineering

b. Web of Science - multidisciplinary

4. Using TRELLIS to locate Journals, Conference Proceedings

Why am I here?

Information Literacy - recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate and use it effectively.

Today’s Goals

1. Refine design problem statements

2. LONG-TERM – find BETTER information FASTER

Flow of Scientific Information0° - Pre-Publication

3°- Summaries, Definitions, Data

1°- Research reports, experimental results

2°- Reports about the literature, Finding Aids.

What is a journal?

Journal or periodical or magazine?

Scholarly journals are refereed or peer-reviewed.

Carries articles written by experts in a specific field.

Step 1. Breakdown Your TopicStep 1. Breakdown Your Topic

1. Isolate the major subjects or concepts for your topic

2. For each concept, list synonyms or different spellings

Step 2. Search a Journal IndexStep 2. Search a Journal Index

What is an index? A database containing references to journal

articles Each reference provides

Article title Author Journal title Volume, issue, date, page numbers Sometimes a description

More about indexes…• Tables of contents copied from thousands of journals in a given subject area.

•Create searchable database.

•Allows you to search by keywords, author, subject.

•Indexes reflect what EXISTS, not what is held by UW.

Use TRELLIS (library catalogue) to verify UW holdings

Index Contents

UW holdings

Useful Indexes for SDE161 Useful Indexes for SDE161 design projectdesign project:

Multidisciplinary topic Engineering Environmental sciences Human factors

See handout for suggested indexes, includes Applied Science and Technology Index, Compendex2 (engineering), Environmental Sciences and Pollution, Web of Science (multidisciplinary)

Common strategies for searching indexes: Use AND (all of the words) to combine concepts Use OR (any of the words) to combine synonyms Use NOT (none of the words) to exclude concepts Use “ “ to specify a phrase Use * to search for a variety of endings Use brackets ( ) organize the search phrase

Example:An oven which uses solar energy for cooking.

Two main concepts:

1. solar energy 2. cooking

food processing

oven

cooker

Where can you find the indexes?

1. Go to the UW Library web site2. Quick link to Indexes and Databases

Compendex (general engineering) Applied Science and Technology Index Computer and Information Systems Abstracts Environmental Sciences and Pollution Ergonomics Abstracts (human factors) INSPEC (physics, ECE engineering) Web of Science (multidisciplinary, good for an overview of topic)

www.lib.uwaterloo.ca

Get a copy of the Article

1. Use TRELLIS, library catalogue

Look for journal title or Conference Proceedings title

Do not look for article title

Obtain photocopy of article

In UW Library - Go to library or print electronic copy

In UG or WLU only - order through Request Item found in TRELLIS - TUGDoc

Not in UW, UG or WLU - order through RACER (InterLibrary Loan)

www.lib.uwaterloo.ca

The End of Part 1!

Overview for class at http://www.lib.uwaterloo.ca/discipline/sysdesign/sde161.htm

Part 2

Patents & Citations

Agenda:

Patent literature APA citation style Writing an annotated bibliography Assignment for today

What is a patent

• A legal document

giving

• A temporary monopoly of 20 years

in return for

• Full disclosure of how the invention works

Why use the patent literature?

•Unique information

•Up to date documents

•Detailed information

•Avoid duplication of research and development

•Free technology (after patent has expired)

Where to begin your patent search?

Each country has its own patent office. Also, the European patent office (EPO) and World

Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO)

Go to the E-reference collection on the UW Library homepage

www.lib.uwaterloo.ca

Citing your references

Properly citing the references in your reports can help in several ways:

1. Help you find articles again later

2. Places your paper within the the context of the body of scientific literature

3. Allows readers (such as your professor) to verify your work

What style will you use for SDE161?

APA Style Manual, Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association

An outline of the APA style is available online through the UW library’s E-Reference collection

APA Style

Format for the text of your design project: Name – Year system ex. (Stapleton, 2002)

Format for the reference list: The reference list is alphabetical and entries

are not numbered

Journal Article

Last name, initials. (year). Article title. Journal title. Volume. (issue if available), pages

Example:

Sahin, A.Z., Al-Garni, A.Z., Al-Farayedhi, A. (2001). Analysis of a small horizontal axis wind turbine performance. International Journal of Energy Research, 25 (6), 501-506.

If you used an electronic journal, add [Electronic version] after the article title:

Sahin, A.Z., Al-Garni, A.Z., Al-Farayedhi, A. (2001). Analysis of a small horizontal axis wind turbine performance [Electronic version]. International Journal of Energy Research, 25 (6), 501-506.

Conference Proceedings

Treat as an article from a book

Last name, initial. (year). Article title. Conference Proceedings title (pages). Place of publication: Publisher

Example:

Shakerin, Said (1992). Earthen solar cooker-design and performance test. Proceedings of International Solar Energy Conference (pp.609-612). New York: ASME

WWW document

Author*, initials. (date). Title of work. Retrieved month day, year, from Source.

*If no author, begin with the title and place date after title.

Example:

Solar Cooking Technology. (19/03/1999). Retrieved October 2, 2002, from United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development, http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/success/solar.htm

WWW documents cont.However, you may find that the www page does not have either an author or a date associated with it.

First ask yourself, can I verify this information? Is it coming from a reputable source?

Example:

How to Make a Pizza Box Solar Oven. (n.d.) Retrieved October 2, 2002. from Solar Now Inc. http://www.solarnow.org/pizzabx.htm

Patents

Inventor(s). (year). Patent Number. Place of publication: Patent office.

Example:Smith, I.M. (1988). U.S. Patent No. 123,445. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

In the text, give the patent number and the issue date (not application date) of the patent.

Example:U.S. Patent No. 123,445 (1988)

What is an annotated bibliography?

Bibliography:

A listing of resources at the end of a written work to which the author referred during the research and writing process.

Annotated bibliography:

Adds descriptive and evaluative comments for each reference in the bibliography

An annotation may include :

Summary of central theme and scope of the work Point of view or perspective from which the work is

written Evaluate the authority or background of the author Comment on the intended audience and level of

reading difficulty Compare or contrast this work with another you have

cited

The assignment:

Each member of the design team is to perform a journal article and/or patent search and locate 2 articles/patents relevant to the design topic.

Do not worry if the articles are not exactly on topic, the purpose of the assignment is to familiarize yourself with the journal article and patent databases relevant to the engineering profession.

The design team will then collect each member's articles and create a list of references.

The assignment

By October 8th, each design team will hand in one package which contains the following:

1. Title page

The title page will consist of the design team name and the names of each member.

2. A reference list

The reference list must contain 2 citations from each team member (e.g., a group of 7 will hand in a list of 14 citations). At least one of the references must be annotated. Each citation in the group list must be unique.

Include the name of the student who contributed the article in brackets after each citation.