Information Sources for English 3323: Technical Writing

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Information Sources for English 3323
Technical Writing
Kevin DreesEngineering LibrarianCreated
June 2004Updated March 2005drees_at_okstate.edu Edm
on Low Library
Oklahoma State University

Stillwater, OK



KD
6/04
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Content of this instruction

• Critical thinking skills
• Keyword vs. subject search
• Information Cycle scholarly vs. non-scholarly
  material
• Primary vs. secondary sources
• Subscription databases from Library via the web
  vs Web search engines
• Knowledge base of the library
• Discipline/Subject Specific Databases
• Format
• Article,
• technical reports
• government documents
• Availability (Print/Electronic)
• Subject experts

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Disciplines

• Business/Financial
• Engineering
• Agriculture

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Formats

• Articles
• Technical Reports
• Government Documents

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Availability

• Electronic
• Print
• Note using both the print and electronic will
  increase the odds of finding useful information
  and better composite sketch of the topic,
  company, or industry

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Critical Thinking deciding about how to search
and what types of sources to use driven by
audience analysis.

• 1. Keyword vs. subject search
• 2. Information Cycle scholarly vs. non-scholarly
  material
• 3. Primary vs. secondary sources
• 4. Subscription databases from Library via the
  web vs Web search engines

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Critical Thinking

• 1. Keyword vs. subject search
• keyword search
• Synonyms targeted, exact, specific
• Example
• company name
• subject search use when keyword fails.
• Synonyms for subject search classification,
  category, broadened searching
• Example
• industry, product type

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Critical Thinking

• 2. Information Cycle
• Analysis increases along the cycle
• scholarly vs. non-scholarly material
• Web (scholarly/non-scholarly) vs subscription
  database (scholarly except for news accounts)

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Critical Thinking

• 3. Primary vs. secondary sources
• preference of primary source materials over
  secondary
• Primary source material
• the article, speech, etc., verbatim a good
  approach to get exactly what was said
• Secondary source material
• A summary someone wrote by looking at the primary
  source. May contain an analysis in the context
  of the discipline.

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Critical Thinking

• 4. Subscription databases from Library via the
  web vs Web search engines
• Understanding the distinction

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Knowledge Base

• Subject Specific Databases
• Business/Financial
• Engineering
• Agriculture
• Format
• article,
• technical reports
• government documents
• Availability (Print/Electronic)

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Business/Financial

• Goal to increase your searching ability in
  business and financial sources
• keyword search
• company name
• Subject search
• Industry
• Product type

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Electronic

• Hoovers
• Factiva
• Business Source Elite
• ProQuest Direct
• Edgar

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Print

• D B Million Dollar Directory
• NAICS (North American Industrl Class. System)
  2000
• SIC (Standard Industrial Class.) Manual
• Standard and Poors Register Corporations
• International Directory of Company Histories

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Print cont. definitely consult

• Value line investment survey.
• Stand Poors Industry Surveys
• Oklahoma Manufacturers Register
• Oklahoma Directory of Manufacturers and
  Processors
• D B Regional Business Directory

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Summary - Business/Financial

• keyword (specific) vs subject (category)
  searching
• Subject searching
• Value line investment survey composite stats
• SP Industry Survey many tables and graphs
• Articles description of the industry or the
  company itself
• Further assistance Librarians, reference desk.

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Engineering

• Electronic
• Compendex
• EBSCO
• Acad Search Elite
• ASTA (Applied Science and Technology)
• Biological Abstracts (multiple years)
• Medline
• INSPEC
• IEL (IEEE Electronic Library)
• Science Direct
• Web of Science

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Agriculture

• Electronic
• ASAE (American Society of Agricultural Engineers)
• CAB Abstracts
• EBSCO
• Agricola - compiled by the U.S. National
  Agricultural Library (NAL)
• Biological Abstracts (multiple years)
• Biological Agricultural Index
• USDA (U.S. Department of Agriculture) www.usda.go
  v

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Technical Reports - defined

• Are written to convey new developments or final
  results of scientific and technical research.
• Are usually funded by government departments or
  corporate bodies.
• Deliver technical information to the funding
  organization.
• Provide a forum for peer information exchange.
• Anne Graham, Barker Engineering Library, MIT,
  grahama_at_mit.edu,
• http//libraries.mit.edu/guides/types/techreports/
  definition.html, Accessed August 14, 2004

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Tech Reports - locating

• The most important resources for locating tech
  reports and other info produced by the Government
  for this technical writing course.
• Library Catalog
• Regular search
• Limited to gov docs
• Science.gov
• site searches 30 Government agency databases and
  makes use of 1700 agency selected websites
  pertaining to science.
• May not be able to pull the full text from this
  source. Contact Gov Docs
• Gov Docs Dept 5th Floor of Library
• Gov Docs Librarians
• Print vs electronic over date ranges
• Identify agencies relevant to your topic

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Tech Reports - locating

• NTIS http//www.ntis.gov/
• All (nearly) government publications are
  available from NTIS (National Technical
  Information Service)
• OSU Gov Docs will request the item in Microfiche
  take the NTIS record (abstract and other data)
  to Gov Docs- 2 weeks- patron photocopy the mf
  copy

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Government documents - defined

• a record of activities of governments numerous
  agencies, regulatory bodies, and departments
• content ranging from agriculture to zoology and
  impact on all academic disciplines.
• Authorship by agency, a unique classification
  system, and a variety of output formats often
  confound users,
• Primary source materials readily available from
  government sources include verbatim testimony
  obtained from congressional hearings and
  environmental impact statements.

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Government Documents identifying relevant
materials

• Search the following in this order
• Library Catalog
• Regular search
• Limited to gov docs
• GPO Access
• from the OSU Library Indexes and Databases Page
• GPO Monthly Catalog
• from the OSU Library Indexes and Databases Page
• Google UncleSam
• from the OSU Library Indexes and Databases Page
• Gov Docs Dept 5th Floor of Library
• Gov Docs Librarians
• Print vs electronic over date ranges
• Identify agencies relevant to your topic

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Government Documents

• Primary source material
• Example Congressional hearings appear
• Congressional LexisNexis via Indexes and
  Databases page.
• Science.gov www.science.gov
• Thomas - (legistative information on the
  Internet http//thomas.loc.gov/
• Secondary source material
• Example search for Congressional hearings in a
  source with major newspapers like New York Times
  
• ProQuest

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How can I tell it is a Gov Doc

• A government agency EPA, etc
• Found the publication in the GPO Monthly
  (Catalog of US Gov Pubs)
• http//www.gpoaccess.gov/cgp/index.html
• Call numbers in Gov Docs 5th floor Libr
• SuDocs (slashes and colons)
• Jackson numbers (3 letters)
• OSU catalog limited to Gov Docs on the limit
  tab_____________________________
• Exception to the above sometimes non-Gov
  publisher items are placed in Gov Docs _

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Government websites via agency or service

• Thomas http//thomas.loc.gov/
• Catalog of US Gov Pubs http//www.gpoaccess.gov/cg
  p/index.html
• EPA www.epa.gov
• Science.gov www.science.gov
• NTIS (National Technical Information Service)
  www.ntis.gov/
• USDA (US Dept of Agriculture)
• www.usda.gov
• Dept of Labor http//www.dol.gov/
• Business stats

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Summary

• Search respective databases print sources
• subject (category) searching as well as Keyword
  (specific)
• Locate primary sources as needed
• Visit Gov Docs Library, 5th Floor