ENSC 105W: Process, form, and convention in professional genres

1. Library Research Workshop ENSC 105W: Process, form, and convention in professional genres Ivana Niseteo Engineering and Computing Science Librarian Burnaby campus Fall 2014

2. 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.

3. Agenda • Library website www.lib.sfu.ca(Demo) • Finding your topic • Researching your topic • Evaluating your sources • Citing your sources and avoiding plagiarism • Getting help

4. Library website • Getting help • Student Learning Commons • Fast Search & Library Search • Catalogue • Databases • Research guides (ENSC 105W)

5. 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)

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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)

9. Background information • Encyclopedias, handbooks, textbooks • Important for preliminary research: key authors, readings, topics, scope • Fast Search or catalogue • 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

10. 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

11. Fast Search • Good for a quick search • Retrieves a large number of hits of a wide range • For a more detailed search, use the catalogue and journal article databases • May need to use databases mapped to a disciplinary perspective

12. Finding books • Fast Search • keyword search • limit by “book” (e-books are included) (Demo) • Catalogue • keyword search • key feature: Subject Headings (click to find similar books)

13. 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 TK1-9971 range, e.g. TK 1001 A586 2010    • Biomedical engineering is in the R856-857 range, e.g. R 856 B322 2010

14. Finding books : Call numbers

15. 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?

16. 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)

17. 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

18. 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

19. 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

20. 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

21. Journal article citation High quality of bibliographic data

22. Useful limits for targeted searching

23. 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

24. 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 Sites

25. 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?

26. 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

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

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

29. 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.

30. 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

31. Write your paper & cite your sources

32. Citation guides & plagiarism APA guides IEEE guides Plagiarism tutorial

33. Getting help • Use our Ask a Librarianservices (via the Library home page) to contact a librarian by: • phone • IM (AskAway) *extended hours • In person (all three campuses) • Take advantage of our Research Guides • Email your librarian : IvanaNiseteo, iniseteo@sfu.ca

34. Thank you! IvanaNiseteo Liaison Librarian for Engineering and Computing Science iniseteo@sfu.ca