Humanitarian Engineering and Social Entreperneurship Course Guide

Contact

Bonnie Osif
Title: Engineering Librarian

325 Hammond
University Park, PA 16802
814 865 3697

Course Info

Course Name:
  Humanitarian Engineering and Social Entreperneurship
Semester:
  Fall
Campus:
  University Park (UP)
Instructor:
  Khanjan Mehta

Research Guides

Engineering Library guides (page links to a number of engineering research guides and course guides)
Business
Coops and Internships Provides information on how to access library resources when you are in the field.
Entrepreneurship

Additional Research Guides of Interest

Literature Review

While the literature review can appear to be a linear process, it is actually very dynamic, changing as you work through the process, often with cycling back to earlier stages as you learn more and your project evolves. So, you adjust as appropriate as you work through the steps. And, note that for some projects, you might not even go through in a linear fashion but might start in the middle of the cycle, again, based on your needs and understanding.

What is your topic/project/problem?

How much do you know about the topic? What are the key points? Vocabulary? What are the limits to your topic (geographic, time, political, etc.)? What are the specific questions you are trying to answer with this research? It actually helps if you can write the points you are trying to address in the form of questions.

How much information do you need? What types of information?

Once you can answer the above questions you can begin to develop a research strategy.

Write a title for your research project. This should be as detailed as possible as it will serve to define your topic and ‘enclose’ it in appropriate limitations. Ex. Efficient, inexpensive, stand-alone solar energy for rural homes
Locate foundational information. The research guides are an excellent source for hints to the best resources to use.

Basic Information Sources include company/country descriptions, dictionaries, handbooks, encyclopedias, textbooks.

For the example: given – search on keyword solar cell and handbook; found -
Stand-alone solar electric systems: the Earthscan expert handbook for planning, design and installation

I could use the subject links to find more books, look at the contents notes or subject terms and do additional searches (maybe try (photovoltaic power or solar cells) and (off-grid or stand-alone) to see what else I might find.

3. You may need to do some revision of your topic based on what you have learned. If not, continue your research by using other resources located in the research guides. In general, all engineering topics should be searched in Compendex, NTIS, and the appropriate subject databases as noted in the research guides. In addition, depending on your topic, you will use other research guides to locate the best resources for your project. For the example given – search with the above terms in Compendex, NTIS, and DoE Information Bridge.

4. Again, revise if necessary. Then, evaluate the information you have found. Do you have enough reliable information to complete your project? Does it actually answer the questions posed by your research problem?

5.If you have the information you need, proceed with your project. If not, then continue to search. Ways to enhance your search include:

Consider the use of synonyms
Don’t forget to use truncation and alternate spelling.
Consider broadening your search (if you were looking at a particular country, consider seeing if the technology was used in another country . You can take your search in a more general direction by reducing the specificity.)
Use any suggestions offered in the databases. Some recommend search terms. Some give ways to refine your search or provide suggested limitations.
Use ‘cited by’ and ‘related’ links to build your search.

Ex. Go to Web of Science on Databases by Title (A-Z ) and select cited reference tab. I had found a good article Generation unit sizing and cost analysis for stand-alone wind, photovoltaic, and hybrid wind/PV systems through my database searching by Kellog, WD published in 1998 in IEEE Transactions on Energy Conversion.

When I do a search in WoS using kellog wd as author, IEEE T ENERGY CONVER as title (you must use the link to find the correct abbreviation of the title) and the year 1998, I find 3 other articles that have included this article in their bibliography and they look like they might be useful to me. This is a very important resource to develop your topic.

Ask for help.

Types of Resources

The CAT indexes the following resources important in engineering:

Handbooks (use Topic search for subject and handbooks, i.e. solar cells and handbooks)
Manuals (use Topic search for subject and manuals, i.e. solar cells and manuals)
Monographs (books) – search by known title, author, or do a subject search on terms that you know or think might be useful.
Conferences – search for conferences in the CAT by title of conference, by the organizing group (i.e. IEEE) or by subject congresses (i.e. solar cells and congresses)
Journals – search in a database such as Compendex. Many are available full text. Look for a yellow full text link or use Get It!
Reports – search using NTIS DoE Information Bridge or Energy Citation databases. The last 2 had full text links in the database. NTIS titles should be copied and pasted into Google phrase search on the advanced page. If the title is not available for free full text online, check NTIS record for the report number. The Engineering Library has many of these filed on microfiche by the report number. If we don’t have it and it is not available online, we will order it for you.
Standards – You can search the CAT using subject and standards search (like the handbooks described above) however we have limited number of standards indexed in the CAT. We have full text copies of IEEE and ASTM standards available under the Databases by Title (A-Z) listing. If you want to search for all standards on a subject, go to www.nssn.org and do a subject search. For more information on standards, go to the standards research guide.
Dissertations (Penn State dissertations and theses, selected dissertations from other universities) may be searched in the CAT by author or title of dissertation. For more general searching, go to Dissertations and Theses or Dissertations and Theses CIC Fulltext on the Databases by Title (A-Z) list and search by title, author, or subject. Many are available full text. Others may be borrowed through Interlibrary Loan.

Databases

To search for journal articles and conferences papers –

All engineering subjects – Compendex

Subject research guides will direct you to the appropriate subject specific database. For example, Pubmed for health issues, IEEE for computer, electrical engineering, etc.

To search for US patents, see US Patent Office or Google Patents

For more information about patents see the Libraries Patent guide.

Standards

The Libraries has full text access to ASTM Standards and IEEE standards. To search for other standards in the library, use the CAT and search on your topic and standards.
To search for standards in general go to NSSN. For more information about standards see the Libraries guide.

To search for reports:
NTIS – searches reports in a variety of subjects and countries from 1964-
TRAIL - interdisciplinary site
TRID – transportation topics
DOE Information Bridge and DOE Energy Citations – energy related topics
National Environmental Publications Internet Site – environmental topics
Government agencies can be searched for full text reports.

Dissertations:
To search for dissertations and theses, see Dissertations and Theses (international from 1861) and Dissertations and Theses from CIC (full text). For more information, see the dissertation research guide.

Research Tips

The most efficient and effective searches are done in subject specific databases, not Google.

Research Guides are an excellent road map to resources in your field of study. Use them to determine what databases to search.

Use as many research guides as appropriate to your topic as many research topics are interdisciplinary.

If you have a really great article, build off of it to find additional resources.

Use an appropriate database to find the article’s record. The easiest way is to search with the author’s name and the title of the article. Check the subject terms (also called descriptors, keywords) to see if they provide you with terms to use in a database search.
See if the database provides a ‘cited by’ link. These links lead you to other articles that have included your great article in their bibliography. If so, these newer articles might also be useful to you.
Additional cited by links can be found by searching Web of Science (use cited reference tab) or Google Scholar.
Related articles links can also be useful as they link to articles with similar keywords (as determined by a computer algorithm). Web of Science and Google Scholar have these links.

You probably search Google. Instead of Google, try scholar.google.com or one of the science and technology focused search options - scirus.com, scitopia.org, science.gov, worldwidescience.org instead. They provide a more focused, evaluated search.