Homework Assignment for MS&E Intro to Engineering 100

For this assignment you will find information on a topic chosen from the list at the bottom of this assignment description. Find references to materials in the library (at least one book and one journal article) and on the web. Write a short paper (less than one page) on the topic. References must be included.

Your assignment is due to your professor November 3, 1999 when class meets.  Pre-engineering students should turn in their papers to Dr. Roseman at 580 ERC (slide under door if he is not there).

You will need UCLID/OhioLINK (the online catalog) to complete the assignment.

Access the UCLID/OhioLINK web version through

• eight PC's with NT in the Engineering Library,
• five library networked stations in the Engineering Library, or
• ALL the Engineering PC and Unix labs.

Assignment

1. Choose a topic from the list below.

2. Find a book with information on topic.

• Connect to UCLID from the Engineering Library homepage (www.engrlib.uc.edu) or go directly to www.libraries.uc.edu.
• Search by keyword for your topic.
• If you don't find enough records in UCLID, broaden your search to OhioLINK with its table-of-contents information for  chapter titles of recent books.  You may limit the OhioLINK list back to University of Cincinnati to identify local books only.
• Browse the list of books found and select the most appropriate records for review.
• Note the LIBRARY, Location, call number and status for the books. Only those with a status of AVAILABLE or LIB USE ONLY will be available for you to look at. You will need the call number to find the book on the shelf.
• If the book is at an OhioLINK library, you may request the item. It will take 3-5 working days to get here.
• Hint: email the UCLID/OhioLINK record to yourself for printing or editing. It has all the information you need for finding the item in the library and citing it for your paper.  (Select Export this Record, then View Marked Records. Choose Full Display format.)
  To find a reference book:
• From the Engineering Library homepage, click on the link called Reference Guides and then Engineering Reference Guides. Select one of the Materials Science guides from the subject list, OR pick up a printed guide from the racks in the Reference section of the Engineering Library.
• Review the titles listed in the section of the guide entitled HANDBOOKS and ENCYCLOPEDIAS.
• Use the call numbers provided to find the books in the Reference section.

3. Find an article on your topic in a journal (magazine).

• From the Engineering Library homepage, select OhioLINK and then "research databases."
• Choose Science and Technology as a category, then Applied Science and Technology Abstracts.
• Search by keyword or subject for your topic.
• Choose the records that are most appropriate. Check the holdings to make sure that UC owns the journal that the article appears in.
• If you want to export these records to your email, mark and store them a page at a time, then email using the brief format (for citing) or full format (to examine subject headings).
• The "Appears in" information shows the journal title and issue that your article is in. Use UCLID to get the call number for the journal title. In the Engineering Library, current journal issues are on the shelf in alphabetical order by journal title. Bound volumes for past years are on the shelf in call number order.

4. To find a website:

• Click on SEARCH in the browser menu bar and choose a search engine.  For other good search engines enter the location "altavista" or "northernlight," or even "dogpile" for a metasearch engine.
• Search for your topic. (Use the Help feature for details on forming a search query.  For example in AltaVista you can use quotation marks to identify a phrase, a "+" sign before a word or phrase to ensure it will be included, and domain:edu to limit to educational sites only.)
• Select non-commercial sites with up-to-date web pages and clear authorship. There is a lot of wrong information on the web!

5. Write up your findings.

• Write a short summary on your topic based on your findings.
• Cite each reference (book, journal article and web site) you used in preparing the summary.  Be sure to include page numbers for the book and journal article.
• Use the prescribed format to cite your references.  To cite a web site for this assignment, provide the location (URL beginning with http://) and the title of the web page.

Topics to research

•     Photonic materials
•     Biomaterials
•     High performance composites
•     Superconducting ceramics
•     Plastics recycling

10/19/99

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