Useful
Shortcuts
Library
Catalogue
Indexes and databases
for sources of general comment see the indexes which cover a
wide range of journal and newspaper articles
Academic Search
Premier
eLibrary
Factiva
Web of Science
Academic
OneFile
Scitopia
Scopus
for
engineering aspects try -
Compendex:
Engineering
Index
CEDB:
Civil
Engineering
DataBase
EnergyFiles
INSPEC
ENGINE
NASA technical reports
for business and
management isues try -
Business
Source Complete
Emerald
FullText
for social aspects try -
GeoBase
PsycINFO
Sociological
abstracts
for Australian aspects
try
-
APA-FT
Australia/New
Zealand Reference Centre
ENGINE
Which
library has this journal?
Intercampus
Requests
Essay,
thesis, report writing - some ideas
Harvard
reference system
Image
and
Copy Centre
Exam papers
Ask a
Librarian
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For your assignment
you are expected to use additional sources of information. You may be
interested to learn about how to read references and interprete citations
before you start searching for your assignment task and collecting
information.
Finding information
To get an understanding of aspects of your topic, some
background information is useful so, try encyclopaedias and
handbooks. (1)
For more detailed discussion find other books and handbooks through the
Library
Catalogue (2)
Once you know which aspects of the topic you want to develop for your
report, you will need to read comment and opinion written in journal
articles. Use
specialised indexes, known as Databases,
to find out what articles and
papers might be
relevant. (3)
(1) Handbooks and Encyclopaedias
The specialist engineering handbooks are aimed at
professional engineers. These are useful sources of information
and ideas.
The Library is acquiring an increasing number of encyclopaedias and
handbooks in electronic format
Some titles are still useful in print form; these are located by Call
Number in the Library's Reference
Collection, Level 2, North or in the Main Collection.
for information on a range of
topics try -
McGraw-Hill encyclopedia of science &
technology. 10th ed. 24 volumes 2007.
Reference collection 503 M14.10
Check the index in volume 24.
engineering handbooks for
specific disciplines may be useful -
CRC
handbook
of
mechanical engineering. 2005.
Electrical
engineering handbook. 2005.
Civil
engineering handbook. 2nd
ed. 2003.
specialist encyclopaedias and
handbooks include -
Encyclopedia of
electrical and electronics engineering . 24
volumes.
1999.
Reference collection 333.7903 C6531e
Encyclopedia of energy.
6 volumes. 2004.
Reference collection 621.303 W381w
(2) The Library
Catalogue will lead you to other handbooks and books about
aspects of your topic.
At the Library web page,
from
the yellow boxes across the top of the screen, click on the one
labelled [Catalogue]
This will bring up the Catalogue
search bar.
Before you
start a search -
Think
about the concepts in your topic
Think of terms, words and
phrases, to cover a concept in your topic.
These words may include a place name, company, etc., as well as other
words that could be used for aspects of the topic. If you need some
ideas, try a dictionary from the Library's list of English
Dictionaries and Thesauri.
At the Search
for: bar type in the
words that you think could appear in the title or subject headings of a
book that could be useful to you.
Type the computer command and
between each word
to tell the system to find only those Catalogue records which include
each word you have selected.
eg.
tricycles and
design
At by:
pull down and select Keyword
(use and, or, not, " ")
Click on the [Search]
button to bring up the list of titles that
match your search
strategy.
In this case, the 'search returned no
results' so reduce the nuber of search terms, eg
tricycles
Click on [Search]
.
The list of records which include the word 'tricycle' are
in the Brief Record
format indicating the location of the book and whether
it
is on loan. Click on the title for more details in the Full
Record.
The Full Record
describes the physical format of the book and lists the Subject Heading(s):
which may give leads to more books on the topic. Click on a Subject Heading:
to bring up a list of headings that you can select from to find other
relevant material, eg
Bicycles and
tricycles--History
which includes information on tricycles
To improve your
search
strategy to get more relevant results, think about other
words that an author might use in their title, which would still be of
interest to you.
eg.
bicycle and
design
There might be other words which could be used for each concept so combine
search terms with the
operators and,
or, " "
eg.
(bicycle or
bike or
tricycle or
trike) and
design
Remember to use brackets ( )
where you
separate words with the OR
command
Where the search word could be singular or plural, use the truncation
symbol *
to tell the system to find all words beginning with the
letters you have typed
eg.
(bicycle*
or
bike*
or
tricycle*
or
trike*)
and
design* and
(electric* or power*)
Where the search words always appear together, use the phrase search
symbol " "
eg.
"composite material?"
and design?
and
(bicycle?
or
bike?
or
tricycle?
or
trike?)
Be careful with the phrase symbol; not everyone uses the same form of
words as you do. If in doubt, use the and
command.
(3) Databases and
indexes to journal articles and papers
You
cannot use the Library Catalogue directly to find out which journal or
newspaper articles are available through the Library.
To find out what relevant
articles or papers have been written, and where they were
published, you need to
search databases.
The Library's subscription to some databases may include access to the
full text of the article.
Where this is not the case, for an
interesting article, search
the Library Catalogue by:
Title
(for book) or by:
Journal or
Newspaper Title (for an article or conference paper) to find out
if the
Library provides access to that item.
First,
choose a database or
index
depending on your topic.
Your topic looks at many issues. In addition to databases covering
engineering, consider databases
indexing commercial issues, social issues, psychology, politics, etc.
Is an Australian database
appropriate? What range of years is the database covering?
For ideas for appropriate databases, at the Library web page,
from
the yellow boxes across the top of the screen, click on the one
labelled [Resource
guides] and select a relevant subject area.
Examples of possibly useful databases are:
for general issues,
including public comment
for technical aspects
for business
and management aspects
for social
aspects
This is
only a selection of available databases.
Remember, if you need information not
covered by the databases above or in the column to the left, check the [Resource guides]
on the Library web page,
or contact
the Engineering Librarian
for
more possibilities.
Second,
searching
effectively.
Search techniques vary in databases but most use the same search
principles as used when searching in the Library's Catalogue by Keyword (use and, or,
not, " ").
There is one exception - the truncation symbol in the databases is the
asterisk *
Before you start a
search -
- Remember that journal articles are usually on a specific
topic - do not use
general search terms.
- Think
about
what information you would like to find to support your case.
- Think of
terms, words and phrases, that could be used in the
title of an article that might give the information you need.
- Consider
searching for a named device, project, company, structure, place name
etc. as well as more widely for the type of project and type of
utility
- Truncate terms. *
is the most
common
truncation symbol, but there are others. Check the database Help
information.
- Combine search terms with Boolean
operators, and, or, " "
Remember to use brackets ( )
around search terms separated by the or
operator.
If
you need a better understanding for the individual database that you
are using, check
the help screens for that database to find out about techniques for
truncation, phrases, etc.
Next,
dealing with the results
- Look at the titles - are there other, useful, search terms
from the
titles and
abstracts of the first
articles you retrieve? Consider 'improving' your search strategy!
- Look for a refine
search option to modify ("improve") your search.
- Look for instructions to display the abstract or full
record; for most
databases click on the title to bring up the abstract. The
abstract
gives a summary of the article plus subject
terms. Click on a subject
term to find all references with that subject term.
- Look for the 'boxes' to mark
useful records.
- Look for icons and instructions for emailing, printing
or saving your
results.
Finally,
once your database search has given references to articles, you
need to
find the full text
of the
article.
- In many cases,
the Library has paid for full text access through our subscriptions, so
you can go directly
through an .html or .pdf link to the electronic
full text of articles. Where there is no full text link, look
for the blue box Check fulltext
options. Click here to check if the Library has the source
in print form.
- If not, always search the journal
title (not the article title) in the Library
Catalogue.
For journals available in electronic form
the Library Catalogue record provides a Link to e-Resource: and indicates
the years available electronically.
For journals in print form the
Library
Catalogue record lists the Location:
(which library), Call Number:
(where in that library) and what the Library
Has: (which issue our set starts with, and if it has finished,
the last issue)
Check
the date and volume number of your reference against the Catalogue
information to make certain that the Library provides access to the
article
you want.
REMEMBER - the Barr Smith Library does
not hold all journals indexed in the databases.
To find out if a journal is available in Adelaide, you can also try:
- the Other
Catalogues option to search the catalogues of UniSA and
Flinders
University libraries
- Libraries
Australia a database of books and journals held by
libraries in Australia.
Report writing
If you need some ideas for ways of presentating the arguments in your
essay or
seminar, try some of the guides
to report writing and presentation.
Referencing styles
When
you are listing works that you have consulted to write an essay, you
should use a definite referencing or citation style. A referencing
style is simply a standardised way of writing down the elements of
information about a book or journal or electronic source.
For this Engineering Systems, Design & Communication report you
should use the Author-Date (Harvard)
style.
See "Referencing - a quick guide" in your Course Notes.
The Library also provides a guide with a range of examples in An introduction to the author-date
(Harvard) referencing system
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