Literature Search

MAE 4262: Rockets & Mission Analysis

31 August 2017

Rob Sippel

rsippel@fit.edu

321-674-7585

A few key elements…

pick a topic…strongly tied to the field of rocketry

obtain and review at least two technical journal and/or conference papers directly discussing your topic and work related to it.

each paper should be 5 years of age or less

one if not all will likely have to be obtained through interlibrary loan

write a report…References to all the papers you reviewed must be included at the end of your write-up.

Start here

Go to the library’s website by:

Taking the direct route: lib.fit.edu

or

Googling us (e.g. “Florida Tech library”)

or

Navigating from the university website (www.fit.edu)

Choose the “Academics” tab (at the top of the page) and then look for the “Library” link on the left.

Some links of particular interest

Interlibrary Loans

If we don’t have it, another library (probably) will.

Allows you to get copies of items not in the FIT library’s collections

Haven’t used Interlibrary Loan (ILLiad) before?

For your first visit to ILLiad, you will need to provide some contact information.

Fill out and submit form for the type of material being requested.

Completing the Interlibrary Loan Request

Items marked by a red asterisk (*) must be filled out.

“Not Wanted After Date”:

Enter the deadline by which you would need the item

“Maximum cost you will pay for this item (if required)?”

Always keep this set equal to zero (0). This is a free service.

When you have completed the form, “Submit Request”

Once your request has been fulfilled, you will receive an e-mail or text indicating how to download or pick up your item.

Using RefWorks

RefWorks is a “citation manager”

Used for recording and organizing lists of reference materials.

Particularly useful for:

1. Keeping track of large numbers of reference resources (journal articles, books, etc.)

2. Generating citations and references/bibliographies in required formats.

When first using RefWorks, you will need to set up an account.

Using RefWorks

RefWorks allows you to:

Add items manually

Share items with others

Generate bibliographies

Identify items with specified tags (keywords)

Organize your source materials into folders.

Research Guides

Research Guides are created by the library to provide students with easy access to resources related to different subjects.

For example,

“Citation Managers” contains information on how to use RefWorks and other citation managers.

“Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering” assists with performing research on rocket design.

Research Guide:Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering

Direct link: libguides.lib.fit.edu/mae

General reference materials (e.g. encyclopedias, handbooks, etc.)

Search for articles/papers on your research topic.

Trying to think of a research topic?

1. Go to the “Reference Sources” tab.

2. Try looking through the “Encyclopedia of Aerospace Engineering” for ideas.

Finding Research Databases

Research databases allow you to simultaneously search through many sources (e.g. journals, conference transactions, etc.) for information on a given topic.

To find research databases especially suitable for this assignment:

1. Go to the “Articles & Databases” tab in the research guide.

2. Look inside the “Key Databases for Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering” box.

Potentially useful databases include:

Advanced Technologies & Aerospace Database

AIAA Aerospace Research Central (ARC)

Engineering Village/Compendex

Advanced Technologies & Aerospace Database

Use of advanced search is recommended.

User can choose to limit results to peer-reviewed content.

Tell the database what you want

Indicate what subject you’re researching

Use quotation marks when looking for a specific phrase, such as “thrust chamber”.

Specify the time period for the documents.

Indicate where to look for your search term.

Indicate the types of sources that you want to use.

e.g. Scholarly Journals, Conference Papers & Proceedings

Check your search results

Too many results? Not enough?

You can

do another search within this set of results, or

modify your search to be more specific or more general

You can also take a subset of results based upon:

Peer-reviewed (or not)

Type of source

Publication title

Other subject areas

etc.

Modifying your search

Change your search term

and/or

Add additional search terms to make your search

More specific, or

Less specific

Saving search results of interest

“Check off” those items that you wish to use

You may then

Generate citations,

and/or

Save the records to your RefWorksaccount

Citing selected items

Select desired citation style.

Saving to RefWorks

Checking library for article

Sometimes, there will be a direct link to an article in your search results.

For other items, there may not be a direct link.

What do you do then?

Using 360 LINK

Click the “360 LINK” icon to see if the library has the article.

There will be one of two possible results.

Either: 1. We have it or 2. We don’t have it.

Read it now! Request it through

Interlibrary Loan

Using 360 LINK to access or request papers.

Your Interlibrary Loan form will be automatically filled out with the necessary information

You just have to submit it.

Click the “Request it”

link.

AIAA Aerospace Research Central (ARC)

Try another research database: AIAA Aerospace Research Central (ARC)

Florida Tech’s library has all AIAA journals and conference papers.

AIAA Aerospace Research Central (ARC)

Learn about search techniques

Specify subject

Indicate desired types of sources

Limit publication dates

ARC Search Results

Number of results

Change your search criteria to increase/decrease your number of results

Generate citation for document (in AIAA format)

All results have links to PDF copies.

Downloading ARC results to RefWorks: Individual Record

1.

2.

3.

Downloading ARC results to RefWorks: Multiple Records

1. Select (check) desired records 2. Click link 3. Click link

4. Import RIS file into RefWorks.

Engineering Village/Compendex

Try one more database: Engineering Village/Compendex

Engineering Village: Search Page

Where to look What to look for

Limit date range

Add search terms

To access additional capabilities

Engineering Village: Results

Number of results

Narrow results set by:

Author name

Author affiliation

Additional subject terms

Document type

Language

etc.

Save search query for future use.

Automatically receive notifications of new relevant content.

Engineering Village: Downloading to RefWorks

1. Select (check) desired records

2. Click download icon

3. Download to Refworks

To refresh your memory

A copy of today’s PowerPoint presentation is available on the research guide for Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering.

See the “MAE 4262” tab.

Questions?