Introduction to Engineering                                            Julia Gelfand

Fall 2006                                                                      Engineering Librarian

Science Library 228

                                                                                    jgelfand@uci.edu

                                                                                    949-824-4971

 

This introductory course will orient you to many contemporary trends and issues in engineering.  One assignment you must complete is to write a brief biography of a famous engineer in the specialty of your major.  In order to do this, you are encouraged to do a fair amount of preparatory reading.  This handout will demonstrate how to find appropriate resources and information.  Your point of departure is the Library Homepage from where you will navigate to find appropriate information

 

There are three things you should do as new students to UCI:

1.      register your UCI Photo ID at the Library Loan Desk in order to place library transactions and select a pin number

2.      buy a copy card so you can print and photocopy at any of the libraries - this works like a debit card and can be added to when it gets low or expires

3.      make sure that you have authenticated yourself to use library resources from off-campus by following instructions to load VPN

and remember that you have 2 week loan periods at the Science Library and 5 weeks at the Langson Library.

 

FINDING BOOKS

 

1.      Using ANTPAC (UCI) - appropriate subject headings include:

Engineers - Biography - Remember that there are many books or biographies in the Business Collection at Langson Library that describe successful engineers' work    by starting new companies - about founders of IBM, CISCO, Ingram Micro, Adobe Acrobat, Google, Yahoo, Silicon Valley pioneers, etc.

2.      Using MELVYL (UC)

3.      Using WORLDCAT (global)

4.      Using AMAZON.com (commercial)

 

REFERENCE WORKS - non-circulating collection in all libraries; arranged by LC Call # - Biographies in Cs; Science Biographies in Q145; Engineering Biography

Examples -

1.      Notable Scientists from 1900 to the Present, 6 vols - SL REF Q141 N728

2.      World of Invention: History's Most Significant Inventions and the People Behind Them - SL REF T15 T174 1994

3.      New York Times Scientists at Work: Profiles of Today's Groundbreaking Scientists from Science Times - SL REF Q 141 S34 2000

4.      American Men & Women of Science: A Biographical Directory of Today's Leaders in Physical, Biological and Related Sciences, 21 st ed, 2003 - SL REF Q 141 A474 2003

5.      Biographical Dictionary of Women in Science - SL REF 141 B5285 2000

6.      Is there an Engineer Inside You?: A comprehensive guide to career decisions in Engineering.  SL Bar TA157 .B294 2002   

7.      Quick Reference - from this site, click on "Directories" and scroll down to some general online biographical sources and encyclopedias. 

 

FINDING ARTICLES

1.      Using Article Databases (A&I) with UC eLinks to library holdings & fulltext content

·        Compendex - (Engineering Index)

·        Web of Science/Science Citation Index - 1945+

·        Expanded Academic ASAP - general database

·        Business Source Premier - focuses on business & management themes

·        Google Scholar - academic content from Google - will match to eLinks

 

1.      Review past issues of Prism, a monthly journal of the American Society for Engineering Education - T 61 A83 (current issues in the Science Library Current Periodical Reading Area and earlier bound issues in the DRUM.  Also selectively covered in Education Index for online access - Also recommend reviewing other journals such as New Scientist, Discovery, Science News, Science

 

 

WHAT IS A BIOGRAPHY?

            Definition: according to Merriam Webster Online Collegiate Dictionary, "the account of the life of something;" "a usually written history of a person's life."

 

TRIVIA ABOUT ENGINEERS - recommend, "Rereading the Smiles" in ASEE's publication, Prism at http://www.prism-magazine.org/may04/refractions.cfm

 

ENGINEERING SPECIALTIES - by subject, department - partial list includes:

            Aerospace, agricultural, bioengineering, biomedical, ceramic, chemical, civil, computer, electrical, environmental, industrial, manufacturing, mechanical, metallurgy, materials, nuclear, ocean, transportation,  etc

           

SEARCHING THE INTERNET - Different Sources

1.      Biographical Dictionary - http://www.s9.com/biography/search.html

2.      Biography.com - http://www.biography.com/

3.      Famous Engineers - http://www.engineeringk12.org/students/fun_section/famous_engineers.htm

4.      Engineering Your Future: Famous Engineers - http://www.engineeringk12.org/precollege/famous.cfm

5.      Famous Engineers - http://www.ic.sunysb.edu/Stu/hnaseer/interest.htm

6.      Wiki Famous Engineers - http://ertw.com/engineering/FamousEngineers.html

7.      Civil Engineers - Famous Engineers - http://www.icivilengineer.com/Famous_Engineers/

8.      Google - or another major search engine - search by engineer (specialty if known) biography

 

EVALUATING INFORMATION

            Audience

            Authority

            Purpose

            Objectivity

            Currency

            Coverage

            Accuracy

            Relevancy

 

CITING YOUR SOURCES - key is consistency for help consult one of the sources at http://www.lib.uci.edu/online/reference/citation.html

1.      Traditional Print Sources - for BOOKS - author/editor, title, location/city of publisher: Publisher, date, pages; - for ARTICLES, author, "title," Source, volume #, issue #, date: pages

2.      Online Content - source, URL, date consulted/searched

 

NEED ADDITIONAL INFORMATION?

·        Use Ask-a-Librarian services for Chat, eMail Reference, reminders to go to the Reference Desks, schedule Research Consultations or contact Engineering Librarian