ENSC 105W: PROCESS, FORM, AND CONVENTION IN PROFESSIONAL GENRES Ivana Niseteo Engineering and Computing Science Librarian Burnaby campus Fall 2015 Library Research Workshop

Getting started with library research… TWO QUESTIONS:  Where can you search for information on your topic?  What library services are available to you as an SFU student? Efficient and effective research is about using resources wisely.

Agenda  Library website (Demo)  Finding your topic  Researching your topic  Evaluating your sources  Citing your sources and avoiding plagiarism  Getting help

Library website  Fast Search & Library Search  Catalogue  Databases  “Help” tab  Materials by subject (Engineering : ENSC 105W)  Citation guides (e.g. APA, IEEE)  Student Learning Commons (SLC)  Ask a librarian

Library website

Finding your topic You will be writing a persuasive essay which argues a social, political, or ethical position in relation to engineering, computing or technology. Browse:  Wikipedia, Google  Canadian Newsstand (newspaper articles)  Academic Search Premier (general database)

Researching your topic Sample research question: Should employers be allowed to electronically monitor employees? Two keys to finding what you want:  Good keywords to use for your search  Good resources to use for your search

Researching your topic Should employers be allowed to electronically monitor employees?  identify the main concepts  employees, electronic monitoring  define synonyms  performance monitoring, surveillance  workplace  define related terms  privacy, legislation, rights

Where to search for information Background information:  Books / e-books  Reference books (e.g., encyclopedias)  Reliable websites  Newspaper articles (e.g. Canadian Newsstand database )  Magazine articles Specific information:  Book chapters  Scholarly articles  Government reports (e.g. Canadian Public Policy Collection )  Statistical Information (e.g. Statistics Canada )

Background information  Encyclopedias, handbooks, textbooks o Important for preliminary research: key authors, readings, topics, scope  Fast Search or catalogue o search by keywords for: encyclopedia + subject  ENSC 105W guide  The “Background information” tab of the Engineering (or other) research guide  “Online reference sources” from library home page

Fast Search  Books (100% of our catalogue)  Journal articles  Newspaper and magazine articles  Music, movies, maps, slides, SFU theses, government documents, sound recordings, and more

Fast Search  Good for a quick search  Retrieves a large number of hits of a wide range  For a more precise search, use the catalogue and journal article databases

Finding books  Fast Search  keyword search  limit by “book/e-book”) (Demo)  Catalogue  keyword search  key feature: Subjects (click to find similar books)

Finding books : Call numbers  Located on book spines  Made up of a combination of meaningful letters and numbers  Electrical engineering, Electronics, and Nuclear engineering are in the TK range, e.g. TK 1001 A  Biomedical engineering is in the R range, e.g. R 856 B

Finding books : Call numbers

Where to search for information Background information:  Books / e-books  Reference books (e.g. encyclopedias)  Websites  Newspaper articles  Magazine articles Specific information:  Books  Scholarly articles  Government reports  Statistics What is the difference?

Scholarly publications  Original research (primary research)  Written by academics  Written for academics, researchers  Longer articles  Technical language, jargon  Always cites sources  Little to no advertising  Peer-Reviewed (Refereed)

Scholarly publications : Definition  Articles in scholarly journals are peer-reviewed  It means “quality control” “Peer-reviewed journals are publications that include only those articles that have been reviewed and/or qualified by a selected panel of acknowledged experts in the field of study covered by the journal” – EBSCO  peer-reviewed articles = refereed articles  academic articles = scholarly articles

Popular publications  Informs or entertains  Sells products  Aimed at general public  Written by writers (rarely subject experts)  Brief articles  Simple, non-technical language  Rarely cites sources

Finding articles : Databases  Database = A large collection of records  Google is a giant database  Library subscribes to hundreds of multidisciplinary and discipline-specific databases, including…  databases relevant to Engineering  Access via Library website  Check ENSC 105W guide to find the most relevant ones

Finding articles : Databases A few reasons to use academic databases:  Contain peer-reviewed articles, free of charge  Good for controlling your search – all have controlled vocabulary : subject headings & descriptors  Higher data quality  Mapped to a disciplinary perspective, so topically relevant

Journal article record Elements:  Title, author(s)  Abstract  DOI number  Subject terms  Use the link: “Where Can I Get This?” to get full-text

Where to search for information Background information:  Books  Reference books (e.g., encyclopedias)  Websites  Newspaper articles  Magazine articles Specific information:  Book chapters  Scholarly articles  Government reports

Evaluating websites (5 questions) 1. AUTHORITY: Who is the author?  Do you have a clear understanding of who the author is?  What are the author’s academic or professional credentials?  Does this make them qualified? 2. ACCURACY: Does the author cite his/her sources?  Can you verify the information elsewhere?  Are there spelling or grammatical mistakes? _________________________________________ Source: BCIT Library Guide: Evaluating Web SitesEvaluating Web Sites

Evaluating websites (5 questions) 3. OBJECTIVITY: What is the purpose of the website?  Who seems to be the website’s intended audience?  How detailed is the information?  Does the author provide broad, opinionated statements without evidence?  Is the web site an advertisement or promotional site?

Evaluating websites (5 questions) 4. CURRENCY:  How well is the site maintained? Links up-to-date?  Does the site tell you when it was last updated? 5. COVERAGE:  How in-depth is the site?  Does the site contribute something unique on the subject?  Look for content, continuity, scope, uniqueness of links to other sources and quality of writing

Google Scholar  Search from the library’s home page to avoid being prompted for payment

Writing your paper  If you need help with writing/structuring your paper or quoting/paraphrasing documents, see the Student Learning Commons. Student Learning Commons  Workshops  One-to-one appointments  Drop-in consultations

Avoiding plagiarism  If you include any ideas or sentences in your paper that come from elsewhere, you need to acknowledge those sources.  Avoid ‘patchwriting’  A form of plagiarism in which a writer relies too heavily on the words and sentence structure of the author’s original text.  Citing a document incorrectly is always better than not citing it.  Leave yourself enough time to cite your sources.

Avoiding plagiarism Don’t know how to correctly cite a document?  Feel free to ask a librarian for help  Make an appointment with the Student Learning Commons  Take our interactive tutorial Understanding and Avoiding Plagiarism and test your knowledge

Getting help  Use our Ask a Librarian services (via the Library home page) to contact a librarian by:Ask a Librarian  phone  IM (AskAway) *extended hours  In person (all three campuses)  Take advantage of our Research Guides  your librarian : Ivana Niseteo,

Thank you! Ivana Niseteo Liaison Librarian for Engineering and Computing Science