Research: Discovering Information Published Resources Printed articles, books, catalogs, etc. Online articles, etc. – found via: Search engine results Digital databases

Unpublished Resources  Oral and written (but unpublished) records interviews, correspondence ( )  Empirical Studies – original data surveys, observations, experiments, tests

Evaluating all Sources of Information 1.Does the information answer important questions for your research? 2.Is the information current? Can you determine the date of publication? 3.Are presented facts and figures from reliable sources? 4.Can you detect any biases in the way that information is presented? Is this really advertising?? 5.Can you determine the author’s credentials and qualifications? 6.Is the publisher/sponsor credible? (for WWW sources, check the domain).

Evaluating Internet Resources A reliable site should make clear how it is organized and maintained. At least one page should include development info. When was site last updated? Good design is good, but it is no substitute for credibility. Check out this resource:

Evaluating Internet Sources 1.Is the site updated regularly? -- check dates 2.Is the site well designed? 3.Is the writing grammatical and clear? 4.Does the source make any biases absolutely clear? Is its purpose clear? -- check “About” page 5.Check the domain. If source is a company, is the page advertising? Beware of ~NAME in directory path of URL. Page may be in personal directory.

Research Ethics: In-Class Exercise Assume you are writing a paper on global warming for an Environmental Engineering Conference. On a scale of 1 (most credible) to 5, rate the following sources in terms of credibility with your audience. (Greenpeace’s URL) (The EPA’s page on global warming)

What about Wikipedia?Wikipedia A collaboratively produced collection of articles. Name is a conflation of “wiki” and “encyclopedia.” In response to recent criticism, has heightened peer review process. peer review Is a Wikipedia article a credible source of information for your investigation?

Strategies for Researching Choose the best search engine. See this website on search engines.search engines  Go beyond Google! Be as specific as possible in your search.  Learn how to combine keywords. Use UT library databases. Talk to experts.

Search Strategies Subject search  uses keywords Snowball search  moves backward in time – begins with recent publication Citation search  moves forward in time -- begins with key paper Star search  looks at “star” journals or institutions

Snowball (a) and Citation (b) Douglas (2003) Nicol et al. (1998) Gaiver (1996) Bardeen (1994) Haus (1975) IEEE Journal Lugovoi (1976) Optics Haus (1978)Auschnitt (1986) Glasser (1995) IEEE Trans (a) (b)

Search Tools: Indexes and Databases Science Citation Index – available through the Web of Science Web of Science Engineering databases  Academic Search Complete -- includes trade and industrial publications as well as journals. Ei Compendex  Covers these fields: Aerospace, Architecture and Planning, Chemical Engineering, Chemistry,Engineering Materials Science, Science and Technology, Transportation  even includes conferences Google Scholar

Don’t plagiarize unintentionally. Copying more than 5 words in a row from another source without quotation marks is plagiarism, even in engineering writing. Use these writing strategies:  Quotation, paraphrase, summary If you copy words, you must do two things: 1.Cite the source and 2.Use quotation marks