Environmental Engineering Graduate Seminar Information Sheet 2012 (12 ENVE 7005)
Library and Information Resources
Jim Clasper, Assistant Engineering & Applied Science Librarian x61452
October 12 & 29, 2012

 

 

 

Important basics:

• College of Engineering and Applied Science (CEAS) Library web site at www.libraries.uc.edu/libraries/ceas
  • Twitter @UCEngrLib and #CEASLibrary, Facebook www.facebook.com/CEASLibrary
  • 850 Baldwin Hall -- Floor Plan http://www.libraries.uc.edu/libraries/ceas/plan/plan.html
  • Jim Clasper is Assistant Engineering & Applied Science Librarian at x61452
  • Ted Baldwin is Head of the CEAS Library x64211
• Off-Campus Access : http://www.libraries.uc.edu/information/access.html
• 10 Things for CEAS Gradute Students to Know
• Engineering Reference Guide on Environmental Engineering at http://guides.libraries.uc.edu/environmentalwater
• Finding out about journal titles and books: use UC Library Catalog,  Full Text Journals, and Books Online

• Finding out about journal articles, patents, theses: use Engineering Databases and Engineering Reference Guides

Defining a topic:

• Look at theses at UC, in OhioLINK (keyword search and limit material type to thesis)
• Look at books, reviews, encyclopedias and handbooks to get background information
• Check out faculty or researchers whose names you know and see what they are doing in databases and web sites
• Use the funnel approach
  • name a broad area name a subarea name a specific topic within the subarea
  • what aspect to look at: theory, application, design, material, construction process, function, use data
  • what are your independent variables? your dependent variables.

Search tips:

• For author searching, beware varying forms of name.
  • In Science Citation Index Expanded, initials are primarily used, e.g., Yeghiazarian, L.  Try their new Author Finder!
  • Within a database, browse author name index if not sure of the form, or to pull up variants of same author's name and even misspellings!
  • There can be many researchers with the same name. Verify person by topic of research and location, keeping in mind where they were working at the time an article was written.
• For subject searching, start with keyword
  • Know how to use truncation, wild cards, and proximity operators in the database
  • Combine synonyms (OR words together) to create a set of terms for a concept
  • Combine sets with AND to limit search to the intersection
  • Use search history to combine search statements
  • Examine records in search results to see what subjects have been assigned (if any) to the record. These subjects may be used to expand to all records on the same subject.
  • Expand to related articles, if opportunity exists (usually based on common references)
  • Use citing features, if any
• To narrow your results
  • use advanced searching capability
  • use " " or ( ) to identify a phrase unless database automatically does it
  • use limit features such as date, material type (journals only, conferences only, patents only, theses only, online only), or treatment (theoretical, applied, historical, scholarly, review, etc)
  • search your topic in title only (this works great in internet searches)

Where to look (see also Civil and Transportation Engineering Reference Guides):

• UC Library Catalog and Books Online and OhioLINK ETD Center (electronic theses and dissertations from Ohio)
• COMPENDEX (oldest index for engineering)
• SCOPUS
• Science Citation Index Expanded (ISI Web of Science) (cited references)
• Computers and Applied Sciences Complete (CASC)
• Specialized indexes
  • Civil Engineering Abstracts
  • Environmental Sciences and Pollution Management
  • Health and Safety Science Abstracts
  • Proquest Dissertations and Theses (also OhioLink Theses and Dissertations)

Web searching:

• Engines
  • SCOPUS has web component
  • Google Scholar
• Tips
  • Use advanced searching to control words, where it searches, domains
  • Limit to title to reduce results

What's cool:

• Knovel for full-text books such in their Environmental Engineering e-book collection.
  
• CRCnetBASE for full-text books online such as the Safety Professional's Reference and Study Guide
• RSS feeds from databases or other alert mechanisms

Retrieving the material:

• If it's online, follow the links such as or to the full-text.
• If a journal title is not in the UC Library Catalog, try Full Text Journals for items we own but are not represented in catalog.
• If it's not owned by UC, use ILLIAD to acquire through Interlibrary Loan, including articles from SWORD.

Presenting your work:

• RefWorks for Citing References
• Top Ten Hints for Formatting Citations Properly
• ASCE Citation Style examples
• Copyright Information (UC Libraries)
• Plagiarism Tutorial (UC Libraries)
• Plagiarism Intro (CEAS, .ppt)

 

created: dfb 9/26/07; last modified: jwc 10/17/12