You have been tasked by your client to design a device or system that empowers older adults—regardless of body type, mobility level, or environment—to safely stand back up after a fall.

Warning: This is a fictitious client statement. It is designed to be realistic and therefore parts of it are based on an existing company. If you locate this organization DO NOT CONTACT them. They will not have any knowledge of 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.

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, handbooks patents, etc.

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 catalogue to determine the cost of the two items and a government publication or standard to show the object is accessible and safe to use.

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 do seniors recover from falls?", then all information you find must be about seniors and recovery and falls. 
• Different people use different words to describe the same thing so you will need to think of synonyms for your concepts. For example, senior, aged, geriatric, older adults, elderly, gerontology, etc. 
• In some cases, you may need to replace general words with technical words. Instead of older, use the technical term geriatric. You may also need to find terms that are either more broad or specific. 
• In some cases, words like recovery have a specific meaning in research (e.g., in medicine recovery could mean as it does in the database Medline: recovery of function - "A partial or complete return to the normal or proper physiologic activity of an organ or part following disease or trauma.") so you may need to think of alternate synonyms to make sure you do not get false positive results. For example, upright, get up, lifting, etc. 

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: fall OR accidental fall OR slip OR trip
• AND will search for BOTH terms in the same item and narrow your search: geriatric AND fall
• (Brackets) work the same as in math. Operators (e.g., OR, AND) are executed before operators outside of brackets: in (geriatric OR aged) AND fall - geriatric OR aged is searched first before fall
• "Quotes" around a word will search for the exact phrase. For example, "get up" is better than: get up - where the word get and up can appear anywhere in the item. 
• Using * after the root of a word will search for all permutations of the word. For example, fall* will search for fall, fall, fallen, and falling.

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

(geriatric OR senior) AND (fall* OR trip) AND (upright OR "get up" OR lift)

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