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Research Guides

APS111: Engineering Strategies & Practice

Project: Bahen Courtyard Sustainable Food Initiative

You have been tasked by your client to design a sustainable food initiative in the Bahen courtyard.


Warning: DO NOT contact the Sustainability Office directly during the project. We want to protect and respect their time, and willingness to participate in this project.


For this assignment you need to do research! You will need to find and cite credible information sources. This guide will help you find, evaluate and cite information. Use the navigation on the left to get started. This guide is just a starting point to your research. There are other credible resources not described in this guide. If you need help finding something, visit the Reference Help Desk.

If you are new to a topic...

You probably are not an expert on topics related to redesigning and repurposing spaces. Needing to do background research on a project is very common in engineering. If you are working on a project you are unfamiliar with first start by reading about the topic in encyclopedias, technical dictionaries and books. This will help you understand the topic better and learn what types of words you need to use in your searches. Once you have this background understanding it will be easier for you to find and understand the jargon and other technical words in journal articles, reports, standards, handbook, patents, etc.

But I can't find...!!!

Sometimes students get frustrated because they can't find a source that exactly supports their claim or answers their question.  Remember, you are designing something no one else has designed before; therefore, that one perfect source probably does not exist.

When this happens, you will need to use various types of sources to give evidence in support of your ideas from different perspectives. Sources can be combined or triangulated to strengthen a design claim.

For example, if you want to support a claim that one item is better than another you might need to consult a handbook to determine properties about the material the items are made from, a journal article that describes an experiment that compares the durability of the two items, a catagloue to determine the cost of the two items and a government publication or standard to show the object is accessible and safe to use.

Using triangulation is a skill that needs to be learned and practiced! For help finding information when doing triangulation ask the library staff. For help synthesizing that information into a well written sentence talk to your communications instructor (CI)!

Search Tips: Key Words & Boolean Operators

Before searching, you will need to identify keywords (and synonyms) for your search.

Unlike Google, most academic databases search for the exact terms used to search. Determining what keywords and synonym to use can be tricky, but once you figure it out, you will yield higher quality results than a Google search. 

  • First determine your concepts - what information must be in all of the information sources you find. If your question is: "How to make pizza boxes more stainable?", then all information you find must be about pizza boxes and sustainability
  • Different people use different words to describe the same thing so you will need to think of synonyms for your concepts. For example, sustainability, green, eco-friendly, carbon neutral, zero waste, etc.
  • In some cases you may need to replace general words with technical words. Instead of pizza box, use the technical term packaging material. You may also need to find terms that are either more broad or specific.

Databases use Boolean language to understand your search question.

  • OR will search for EITHER term and expand your search. OR is used to group terms that mean the same thing: sustainable OR eco-friendly
  • AND will search for BOTH terms in the same item and narrow your search: sustainability AND food
  • (Brackets) work the same as in math. Operators (e.g., OR, AND) are executed before operators outside of brackets: in (sustainability OR eco-friendly) AND food - sustainability OR eco-friendly is searched first. 
  • "Quotes" around a word will search for the exact phrase. For example, "carbon neutral" is better than: carbon neutral - where the word carbon and neutral can appear anywhere in the item. 
  • Using * after the root of a word will search for all permutations of the word. For example, sustainab* will search for sustainable, sustainability and sustainably.

You can combine the tips above to create a search. For example: 

("carbon neutral" OR sustainab* OR eco-friendly) AND food

 

Help with writing

Engineering Communications Program can help with writing. Check out their online resources: