Engineering Information:Putting It Together

Honora F. Nerz

NCSU Libraries

What is research?

What kinds of research do you do in College? Term papers Assignments Senior Design Project Preparing for Interviews

Why do

engineers need

to know how to

do research?

(Adapted from) Rodrigues, Ronald. (2001). Industry Expectations of the New Engineer. Science and Technology Libraries, 19, 179-188.

Be Smartfind out if an experiment has already been done; avoid needless repetition

Contributeby gaining expertise in using online databases, the new engineer supplies needed ideas and information for engineers active in developing new products.

Identifyidentify research frontiers where efforts are most likely to lead to technical and financial success for your company.

Leadengineers that use information effectively, not only have a competitive advantage over those that don’t, they avoid the devastating cost of misinformation.

In other words… Information Literacy n. the ability to identify, locate, analyze, synthesize,andpresent information to solve a specificproblem.

Educating Engineers“Engineering programs must demonstrate that their graduates have:

(g) An ability to communicate effectively;

(i) A recognition of the need for, and an ability to engage in life-long learning;

(j) A knowledge of contemporary issues.”

-ABET 2004-2005 Criteria for Accrediting Engineering Programs, Criterion 3

The Libraries’ Piece…What we do… acquire and organize

information resources (like books, journals, and electronic databases);

assist faculty, staff, and students in identifying and using the resources;

and strive to preserve resources for future users as a record of collective knowledge.

So where do you start? 1. What are you looking for?

2. Where would it be? On the web? (for free?) In a book? (print or electronic) In a magazine, newspaper or journal? (print or

electronic)

3. What kind of book/magazine/web site? Who would want to read about this? Who would want to write about this?

4. And if it’s in more than one source, is one source better (more respected) than the other?

5. Select a search tool & begin searching The free stuff:

World Wide Web – Google, Yahoo, etc.

The not-so-free stuff: The Library Catalog – a

database that lists everything the Libraries’ own (mostly books).

Citation & full-text databases – products we purchase to allow subject searching across many publications (mostly journals).

An Information ProblemWhat do engineers do?

What can I do with an

engineering degree?

Physical Sciences

Engineering

Life Sciences

Engineering books and journals are on the 8th and 9th floors of the library.

Call Numbers

T Technology

TA Civil Engineering TA164 Biomedical Engineering TJ Mechanical

Engineering TK Nuclear, Electrical

Engineering TL Aeronautical

Engineering TN Metallurgy TP Chemical Engineering

Where else can we look?

200 Databases (approx.) Full text articles Citations and abstracts to journal articles Directories of information (companies, etc.) Many reference books compiled into one source

A few last thoughts…

Always remember to cite your sources using a standard format such as APA or MLA.

Failure to cite is plagiarism!!

If you’re not sure how to do something, just ask us!

Questions?

Help us do a better job…

Fill out our survey online at:

http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/surveys/engineering

Thank you!!