Outline for ECE 796/896 Library Information Session

ECE 796/896, Professor Kuan Zhou

Library Information Session, 23 September 2005

Provided by Emily Poworoznek, Associate Professor and Engineering & Physical Sciences Librarian

ECE 796/896 Library Information Session: Outline and Step-by-step

[image thanks to Deep Space Radio Astronomy at JPL -- http://dsnra.jpl.nasa.gov/pkg/schematic-1.0/html/schematic/op_amp.html]

How to use this page: follow outline links to see detailed information.

I.  Where does your information come from (and why does it matter)?

   A. UNPUBLISHED

   B. PUBLISHED

      Formal (through a publisher) or informal

     1. Informally published material? Need to evaluate carefully.

     2. Formally published material -- undergoes a process to ensure authority.

       a) Primary sources --original material
Examples: research articles in journals or conference proceedings; research reports (government or corporate research); investigative reporting; original books or treatises

       b) Secondary sources) -- the content is brought together from a number of primary sources and often other secondary sources.
Examples: textbooks, encyclopedias, review articles in journals, newspaper stories based on previous reports

       c) What is peer review?

   C. Cite your sources

     1. What do I have to cite?

     2. How do I cite it?

II. Sources for electrical engineering literature searches -- save time by using trusted, authoritative sources

   A. For basic information, use published books

   B. For current and specialized information, use indexes to find journal articles on your topic. Examples of indexes include:

     1. Ei Compendex (true index)

     2. INSPEC (true index)

     3. ACM Digital Library (publisher site with search interface)

     4. IEEE Xplore (publisher site with search interface)

   C. Sample searches on Ei Compendex and INSPEC

These indexes use Boolean searching terms (see tip sheets). Here are some examples of searches:

If I need recent information on noise reduction in op amps, I could phrase my searches this way (for Compendex and INSPEC, the Boolean terms do not need to be capitalized)

(noise) AND ("op amp" or "operational amplifier")

I can limit the search to certain publication years if needed. It's a good idea to try different synonyms (you can use OR to search them at one time, or do different searches).

   D. Getting the material

     1. Using the catalog

Author searches

Title searches

Author/title

Keyword

Subject

     2. Understanding Catalog records

       a) Subject search example

       b) TItle search example

       c) Keyword searching

     3. If you don't find what you seek, check with Library staff (call, email, come in). We will double-check for you. If we don't have the material at the UNH Library, you may obtain it through the Library's InterLibrary Loan (ILL) or the BLC Virtual Catalog.

       a) Journal article copy: ILL
       b) Borrowing a book: ILL or VCat

You don't have to check with library staff before using ILL or the Virtual Catalog, but it can save time!

III. Review -- steps to sources

Outline with detail

I.  Where does your information come from (and why does it matter)?
   A. UNPUBLISHED sources: course lecture notes, interviews, letters, expert testimony, friends and neighbors

   B. PUBLISHED sources:
      Formal (through a publisher) or informal (self-published, like a blog or a person's Web site)

     1. Informally published material? Need to evaluate carefully.

       a)"Evaluating Web Sites for Quality" (http://www.reference.unh.edu/guides/eval.html)

       b) Greg Notess' Search Engine Showdown summarizes info on major Internet search engines
(http://www.searchengineshowdown.com)

     2. Formally published material -- undergoes a process to ensure authority. Organization, permanence, and ease of citation are other qualities. Some is peer-reviewed.

       a) Primary sources -- original material is presented in written or another form; examples are journal articles with published experimental results or new theories, novel applications of model, patents for inventions
Examples: research articles in journals or conference proceedings; research reports (government or corporate research); investigative reporting; original books or treatises

       b) Secondary sources) -- the content is brought together from a number of primary sources and often other secondary sources.
Examples: textbooks, encyclopedias, review articles in journals, newspaper stories based on previous reports

       c) What is peer review? Not the same as peer pressure -- it's more like having a jury of your peers.

When a journal article is "peer-reviewed" it means that professionals -- engineers or scientists in the same field -- have read the article before publication. Reviewers may recommend changes or additions, as well as making a recommendation as to whether the article should be accepted for publication or rejected. Peer reviewers are usually anonymous and volunteer to review articles as a service to the profession-- they are not compensated for this work.

Examples: Research journal articles are usually peer-reviewed -- all IEEE Transactions and Journals are peer-reviewed; the Magazines are not. Conference proceedings may be but many are not; reports rarely are, although a competitive proposal process using peer review is often used to select the project for funding; popular and trade magazines usually are not peer-reviewed or may have a mix (EDN, Newsweek), editors and editorial staff are responsible for checking the articles in trade and popular magazine.

   C. Cite your sources
     1. What do I have to cite?
All sources of information that you use in large part, paraphrase, or quote, whether published or unpublished.

     2. How do I cite it?
Your instructor may prefer a specific style of citation. The Library also has many guides to citing sources, including Kate Turabian's well-known Manual for writers of term papers, theses, and dissertations and Xia Li's Electronic Styles. All library locations on campus have at least one edition of the Turabian manual.There are online guides on the UNH Library web site

II. Resources for electrical engineering literature searches -- save time by using trusted, authoritative sources

   A. For basic information, use published books such as those recommended by your instructor and available in the Library or lab (textbooks, monographs,standards, data books,handbooks, etc.).

   B. For current and specialized information, use indexes to find journal articles on your topic. Examples include:

     1. Ei Compendex -- all areas of engineering, 1970-present online, indexes mainly journal articles and conference proceedings. In print this goes back to the late 19th century (and we have it all...). It includes coverage of scholarly material and also many reputable trade journals from many publishers. There are many links to full-text information; other materials are in print at UNH or can be obtained from other library sources.
"Compendex" stands for COMPuterized ENgineering inDEX and Ei is Engineering Information, the company that produces it.

     2. INSPEC, 1969-present, produced by the IEE
-- INSPEC provides international coverage of journal articles, conference proceedings, reports, and some books in the fields of electrical engineering, computing and controls, IT, and physics. Gathering info from a wide variety of scholarly publishers, it's an excellent resource. INSPEC includes many links to full-text information; other materials are in print at UNH or can be obtained from other library sources.
Fields covered, time period and type of publication covered varies depending on the index you are using.

     3. IEEE Xplore -- This is useful for digging into IEEE publications. It provides searching and browsing for IEEE journals, magazine, conference proceedings, and standards. At UNH, you can access IEEE journals from 1998 to present online; the rest of the IEEE journals are usually in our print collection. For conference proceedings, check the catalog by keywords -- we may have them or you may need to get the conference articles through InterLibrary Loan. The IEEE is a non-profit international organization of electrical engineers and professionals in related technical fields. It has over 365,000 members from 150 countries.

     4. ACM Digital Library -- search and browse journals and conference proceedings published by the ACM (Association for Computing Machinery). ACM is a worldwide organization for IT professionals, some 80,000 strong.

   C. Sample searches on Ei Compendex and INSPEC

These indexes use Boolean searching terms (see tip sheet).

For example, if you need recent information on noise reduction in op-amps, you can phrase your searches this way:

(noise AND (op amp or op amps)

You can use build your search, using boxes for the different terms. You may limit the search to certain publication years, publication types, etc., if needed. Look at the options. It's a good idea to try different synonyms (you can use OR to search them at one time, or do this in separate searches). It will really help if you keep a log of the searches you have done, and email or save your best search results so that you can return to them easily.

   D. Getting the material

     1. Using the catalog

In the sample searches above, you saw how to go from the index to the Library catalog directly. However, lots of times, you need to type in your own search on the Library's catalog.

Author searches: Last name, firstname (try just the first initial)
Title searches: Omit "The," "A" or "An" at the start of a title. Case doesn't matter in any of these searches.
Author/title: Try just the author's last name with any uncommon word from the title
(Example: Gray, Analysis and Design of Analog Integrated Circuits
Keyword: Use the Boolean terms (and, or) to connect your keywords, or just type the words in to search them as a phrase "integrated circuit."
Subject: The Library uses Library-of-Congress subject headings. These are broad topics, such as "Electronic circuit design" or "Differential equations," or can be proper names, such as the name of a country (Ghana), company (IBM), person (Edison), etc. Try different ideas until you find what works best, or ask library staff.

     2. Understanding Catalog records
       a) search for the subject "Electronic circuit design" and limit to 1995- (use light blue "limit" button on screen after your initial search). Note the location, call number, and status. Most of the books published recently on this topic are at the Engineering/Math Library, and the call numbers start with TK, which is the code for Electrical Engineering.

       b) Journal example. Search by title for: IEEE Transactions on Computers.
(Note: always search by the journal's title in the catalog, not the article title).
For this journal, the online version is available from 1998 on, and we have paper for 1968 to present, with the most recent ten years at the Engr/Math Library and older ones at the Chemistry Library, in the basement.

When citing a journal article, you must give the full journal citation, and note the URL that you used to access it and the name of the file, for example: Fibian, Paul S. "The op amp of today." Journal of Integrated Circuit Engineering 5 (May 2005): 11-18. [URL:]http://www.whateveritis.org>. Accessed April 1, 2006.

       c) Keyword searches are helpful for topic searching when you aren't sure of which subject headings are appropriate. Keyword searches are also great for finding conference proceedings. Try a keyword search on: asilomar and conference and circuits. The "and" is the Boolean operator; the library catalog uses Boolean logic, too. The keyword search checks book and journal titles, names of authors if they are organizations or companies, conference names, subject headings, and notes such as contents.

     3. If you don't find what you are looking for, please check with Library staff (call, email, come in). We will double-check the citation and the shelf for you. If we don't have the material at the UNH Library, you may obtain it through the Library's InterLibrary Loan (ILL) or the BLC Virtual Catalog.

       a) To request a photocopy of a journal article or conference article, create an account and fill out the online form (keep track of your userid and password!). Most material arrives in two weeks, but it may take up to six weeks, so please plan in advance. Undergraduates may make 6 ILL requests per week. Graduate students may also use Infotrieve for article delivery.

       b) If you need a whole book, you may use the Virtual Catalog or ILL.

Virtual Catalog requests usually arrive in 4-5 days, and are held for pick-up at Dimond Library's Loan Desk. You can use the Virtual Catalog to request an item that the UNH Library owns that happens to be checked out when you need it, or you can request them back from the person who has the item out (this usually takes a bit longer, as we give our users a minimum of 10 days to bring the item in).

You don't have to check with library staff before using ILL or the Virtual Catalog, but it can save time!

III. Review -- steps to sources
   A. Use trusted, authoritative sources for professional information.
   B. Consider whether primary or secondary information is needed, and how current it should be.
   C. Use subject-specialized indexes to search for journal and conference literature.
   D. Check whether the Library owns the sources, using the catalog.
   E. If not owned, use ILL or Virtual Catalog to make your request.
   F. Contact Engineering/Math Library staff at any point in this process, when you have a question.

Comments or questions to Emily Poworoznek, UNH Engineering and Physical Sciences Librarian: el @ cisunix.unh.edu

Created September 2005.