Library Resources forECE 4416 Project

Dan SichECE LibrarianSept 11, 2008

I want you to be able to…

• find articles using journal article databases• look critically at what you’ve found• get article fulltext• get patents & standards• build a list of reference, bibliography• teach your friends how to do (some of) this

Schedule• RefWorks account set up• overview of different sources• search tips• library catalogue, EngNetBase• Inspec (find articles) & getting article full text• RefWorks (exporting to)• Standards, Patents• RefWorks (create bibliography)• Questions & feedback

Register for RefWorks

• You’ll use your RefWorks account later in the session

@uwo.ca works best

(Some) Types of Information Sources

• Websites• Books, Handbooks, and Encyclopedias• Magazines / Trade Publications• Scholarly Journals• Standards• Patents

This diagram has been adapted from Evolution of Scientific Information. [From Allan Kent and Harold Lancour, eds., Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science (New York, 1979), s.v. ”Scientific Literature,” by K. Subramanyam, 394]. Available at http://library.wooster.edu/sciref/Tutor/EvSciInfo/evsciinfo.php (retrieved Sept 3, 2008). Thanks to Timken Science Library, College of Wooster.

Websites are good for…

• verifying information• finding company & product information• bridging gaps in the search process

Books are good for finding…

• introductions to topic• reliable information• lists of references• numerical data

Library Catalogue

• Where the books are, along with…• Everything the library owns, including…• Search by keyword, author, publisher, etc.• Note: you can’t search for journal articles

here, but you can search for journals (print and online versions)

Your turn

• 5 minutes• Find something interesting in the library

catalogue• Ask us questions• Help each other

ENGnetBASE

• CRC engineering handbooks• Fulltext (PDFs)• Topics covered include: electric power and

distributed generation, electric packaging, mechatronics, wireless communication and digital signal processing, etc.

• Note: you need to click on Table of Contents hyperlinks to see chapter PDFs

Your turn

• 5 minutes• Find something interesting in

ENGnetBASE• Click on links in Table of Contents to see

chapter PDFs• Ask us questions• Help each other

Magazines & trade publications are good for finding…

• industry news• product news & reviews• practical information• insights from practicing engineers

Interlude: scholarly vs. popular publications• availability• audience• aesthetics• authors• topics• length• language• advertizing• sources,

credits

You can find magazines & trade publication articles using:

• ABI/Inform – Trade & Industry• CBCA Business• You can search both at the same time by

clicking “Select multiple databases”• …or ask me about other appropriate

search engines• Note: the above two databases are fulltext

Your turn

• 10 minutes• Find relevant news, reviews, etc. in

ABI/Inform – Trade & Industry, CBCA Business and/or others

• Ask us questions• Help each other

Journal Articles are good for finding…

• peer-reviewed, scholarly research• narrow, focused, specific information

Interlude: the peer-review process

1. author writes paper, sends to publisher2. publisher sends to referees (experts)3. referees send feedback to publisher4. publisher decides to publish or not5. paper is published6. journal is distributed

Scholarly Journal Articles & Databases are good for finding…

• Scholarly, peer-reviewed journal articles and conference articles

• Review articles: overview of what has been published to date

A few Journal Article Databases relevant to your project

• Inspec (ECE) & Compendex (eng)• IEEE Xplore (fulltext)• Web of Science (cited reference

searching – powerful feature)• Google Scholar (easy to use, but

incomplete; don’t use this exclusively, or you may miss important research & developments related to your topic)

• …or ask me about other appropriate search engines

Search tips

• identify key words• use synonyms, AND, OR, NOT, *• E.g., mouse AND emulat* AND disab*• emulat* = emulation, emulator, emulate,

emulates…• (Note: Inspec & Compendex have

‘autostemming’ feature, so no need for *)• limit date, language, document type(s)

Finding relevant articles

• Select Controlled Vocabulary• Select Classification Codes• Search within your results, or search entire

database• Click “include” at bottom of page

• Abstract = concise description of contents of article

• Get it @ Western links to fulltext (when it exists) and/or print versions

• We have this article online• (The online journal will show up in the

library catalogue as well)

• We don’t have this journal issue online; check the library catalogue for print version; if we don’t have print, use Interlibrary Loan ($5 per article)

Interlibrary Loan (RACER)

• For articles (photocopies) and books (loans) that UWO doesn’t have

• $5 per article• Takes 4-10 business days (on average)• Standards and theses are difficult to obtain

through ILL

Exporting citations to RefWorks

• You can do this from Inspec & Compendex, Web of Science, and a lot of our other databases

• Instructions are on my ECE 4416 webpage

Your turn

• 10 minutes• Find interesting journal articles, conference

proceedings, etc. in Inspec and/or Compendex• Get fulltext articles or find out if print is in

catalogue• Export citations to RefWorks• Done? Try other journal article databases• Ask us questions• Help each other

RefWorks

• Web app for citation management• automatically formats notes, bibliographies• works with many of our databases (not just

Inspec & Compendex)• Database-specific export & import

instructions are linked from my ECE 4416 page

• Use the Write-N-Cite plugin for Word; it’s linked under “Tools” in RefWorks

• We want to make a Bibliography, IEEE-style

• We need to add IEEE-style to our list of Favorites

• Find IEEE on the left• Highlight it• Click “Add to Favorites”• Click “Back to Previous Page”

• Select IEEE Output Style• Select File Type• Select which References to Include• Note: you can put references into Folders• Click “Create Bibliography”

Your turn

• 5 minutes• Create a bibliography using RefWorks• Use IEEE Output Style• Note: you don’t have to create a

bibliography every time you add references to your RefWorks database

• Ask questions• Help each other

Standards are…

• guidelines• procedures• rules• details on ways of doing things• expensive• sometimes available through the library

• We have ASTM, CSA and IEEE standards

Patents…

• grant exclusive rights• use technical, legal jargon• contain drawings• contain technical information rarely found

elsewhere• are sometimes available free online• are difficult to describe when you don’t

know exactly what you’re looking for

• Inventor: George Van Eps• Key words: guitar, damper…?• From Google: George Van Eps'

Patent for a Guitar Damper, 1950. Patent Number: 2,628,524

Describe the thing

• Canadian Intellectual Property Office

• US Patent Office• European Patent

Office• …all have their own

websites• There are many free

patent databases

Questions & feedback

• On a cue card, briefly describe the one thing that you’re still confused about

• It doesn’t have to be something I covered in the session

• Ask questions now• Take my business card

Questions? Contact info:

Dan Sich, ECE Librarianphone: 519.661.2111 ext. 80962eMail/MSN: dsich2@uwo.cause eMail subject: ECE 4416 questionSkype: dansich