Choosing a topic
When choosing a topic for your research paper, think about the following:
- Unless your instructor assigns a topic, try to select a topic that interests you.
- Make sure your topic is not too broad, or too narrow. You will find too much information when searching for a broad topic; and not enough information when searching for a narrow topic.
- If you already have a general topic, try searching the library's catalog or the library's databases for ideas on how to narrow that topic down.
- Visit the library's Reference Desk and request to view the following book: 10,000 ideas for term papers, projects, reports and speeches: Intriguing, original research topics for every student's need.
- For current events and issues in the news, try searching the library's database: CQ Researcher.
- For debatable or controversial issues, ask one of the librarians about the Opposing Viewpoints Series, the Taking Sides Series, Issues in Focus Series and/or the Current Controversies Series.
- Visit the Social Issues Research Guide. There you will find a list of current social issues to choose from.
Reference Collection
The Reference Collection will provide an excellent starting point for your research in the field of Engineering & Technology. Reference books often give you background information and a general overview on your topic so that you can proceed with greater understanding to a more detailed treatment of your subject in other books and periodicals. Reference books may include specialized dictionaries, encyclopedias, handbooks, almanacs, atlases and/or statistical reports. The librarian at the Reference Desk can help in locating an appropriate source. Listed below are the titles and call numbers of some of the Engineering & Technology books in the library's reference collection. The reference collection is located on the main level of the library. Books within the reference collection cannot be checked out of the library.
Books
| McGraw-Hill encyclopedia of science & technology | REF Q121.M3 1997 |
| Van Nostrand's scientific encyclopedia | REF Q121.V269 2002 |
| Dictionary of scientific literacy | REF Q123.B68 1991 |
| Chambers dictionary of science and technology | REF Q123.C42 1999 |
| McGraw-Hill dictionary of scientific and technical terms | REF Q123.M15 2003 |
| Milestones in computer science and information technology | REF QA76.R434 2003 |
| Encyclopedia of computers and computer history | REF QA76.15.E53 2001 |
| Conversion factors | REF QC94.C67 1991 |
| CRC handbook of chemistry and physics | REF QD65.C88 1990 |
| Dictionary of architecture & construction | REF NA31.H32 1993 |
| Encyclopedia of 20th-century technology | REF T9 .E462 2005 |
| How to write & publish a scientific paper | REF T11 .D33 1998 |
| Oxford illustrated encyclopedia of invention & technology | REF T9 .O94 1992 |
| The Wiley dictionary of civil engineering and construction | REF TA9.K46 1996 |
| Dictionary of civil engineering | REF TA9.K88 2004 |
| McGraw-Hill encyclopedia of engineering | REF TA9.M36 1993 |
| Encyclopedia of engineering signs and symbols | REF TA11.E5 1965 |
| Great engineers and pioneers in technology | REF TA139 .G7 1981 |
| Magill's survey of science. Applied science series | REF TA145 .M298 |
| The Civil engineering handbook | REF TA151.C57 1995 |
| The engineering handbook | REF TA151.E424 1996 |
| The Wiley engineer's desk reference | REF TA151.H424 1998 |
| Handbook of applied mathematics for engineers/scientists | REF TA332 .K87 1991 |
| ASM handbook of engineering mathematics | REF TA332.A79 1983 |
| Machinery's handbook | REF TJ151.M3 1992 |
| Standard handbook for electrical engineers | REF TK151.S8 1993 |
| Desktop encyclopedia of telecommunications | REF TK5102 .M85 2000 |
| Dictionary of acronyms and technical abbreviations | REF TK5102 .V55 2001 |
| Encyclopedia of networking, electronic edition | REF TK5105.5.S428 1998 |
| The electronics handbook | REF TK7867.E4244 1996 |
| Troubleshooting, maintaining & repairing PCs | REF TK7887 .B5528 2001 |
| The Beaulieu encyclopedia of the automobile | REF TL9.B43 2000 |
| Used car & truck | REF TL162.U83 1999 |
| The CAD/CAM handbook | REF TS155.6.M316 1996 |
| Encyclopedia of military technology and innovation | REF U24.B85 2004 |
| Encyclopedia of information science and technology | REF Z1006.E566 2005 |
| Construction | [electronic book] 2001 |
| Civil engineering formulas | [electronic book] c2002 |
Library Catalog
The library catalog is used to locate books both at RVCC, as well as from other libraries in the Somerset County Library System. Books will provide in-depth information not found in reference sources.
Quick Tips:
- Start with a Keyword search. Once you find one or two books about your topic, check the book's record to see what Subjects are being used. Once you find the appropriate Subject Heading, repeat your search using those headings. Generally, the results from a Subject search will always be more accurate than the results from a Keyword search.
- If you know the title of the book you are looking for, do a Title search.
- If you are looking for a book with a specific author, do an Author search (last name first).
Suggested Subject Headings for Engineering & Technology:
- Blueprints
- Chemical engineering
- Civil Engineering
- Electric engineering
- Engineering – Handbooks, manuals, etc.
- Engineering, Architectural
- Engineering design
- Engineering ethics
- Engineering graphics
- Engineering mathematics
- Engineering -- Employment
- Engineering – History
- Engineering instruments
- Environmental engineering
- Industrial engineering
- Internet
- Mechanical drawing
- Mechanical engineering
- Nanotechnology
- Nanoscience
- Robotics
- Software engineering
- Structural engineering
- Surveying
- Technical writing
- Traffic engineering
- Wireless communication systems
Consult with the reference librarian to find the term best suited to your needs.
Browse the Collection:
Most of the books can be found in the following areas:
- Q -- Science (General)
- QA76 -- Computer Science
- QA -- Mathematics
- QC -- Physics
- T -- Technology (General)
- TA -- Engineering (General). Civil engineering
- TC -- Hydraulic engineering. Ocean engineering
- TD -- Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering
- TE -- Highway engineering. Roads and pavements
- TF -- Railroad engineering and operation
- TG -- Bridge engineering
- TH -- Building construction
- TJ -- Mechanical engineering and machinery
- TK -- Electrical engineering. Electronics. Nuclear engineering
- TL -- Motor vehicles. Aeronautics. Astronautics
- TN -- Mining engineering. Metallurgy
- TP -- Chemical technology
All of the library's circulating books are located on the upper level of the library.
For additional library catalogs, including libraries in Hunterdon and Middlesex counties, consult the Additional Library Catalogs page. If you find a book in one of these catalogs that the library does not own, request the book using the library's Interlibrary Loan Service.
Research Databases - Finding Articles
The Evelyn S. Field Library has access to thousands of periodicals. (Periodicals can be magazines, scholarly journals, or newspapers.) Some periodicals are in the library's print (or hard copy) collection. However, the majority of periodicals are available in the Research Databases. These databases provide access to articles. This information is generally more current than material found in books.
Search for periodical articles on Engineering & Technology using the databases listed below. They can be accessed from the Library Database Page. (If you are using these databases from an off-campus location, you will be asked to identify yourself by logging in with your Username and Password. This is the same login you use on campus. The Research Databases are available only to registered RVCC students.)
- Access Science is a premiere online science platform, featuring fully searchable content from McGraw-Hill's Encyclopedia of Science & Technology, 10th Edition with over 8,500 online articles, 10,000+ definitions from the McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms, 15,000 illustrations and graphics, and content contributed by more than 5000 researchers, including 36 Nobel Prize winners.
- Science Direct, Elsevier’s ScienceDirect contains over 25% of the world's science, technology and medicine full text and bibliographic information. This database offers a rich journal collection of over 2,000 titles. The collections contain 4 million articles prior to 1995, and 2.75 million articles from after 1994.
- Wilson Omnifile Full Text Mega edition is a multi-disciplinary database providing full text of articles from some 1,800 publications and abstracts and indexing from over 3,700 publications. The Applied Science and Technology specialized module is particularly relevant to engineering and technology.
- New Jersey Knowledge Initiative (NJKI) Statewide web access to high-end Science, Technology, Medical and Business Databases. Significant databases include the Wiley InterScience Journals, (which provide quality content across the spectrum of scientific, technical, medical and professional endeavors with over 1.5 million articles of scientific and scholarly research) and the Nature Journals collection: Nature ; Nature Biotechnology ; Nature Cell Biology ; Nature Chemical Biology ; Nature Genetics ; Nature Immunology ; Nature Materials ; Nature Methods ; Nature Medicine ; Nature Nanotechnology ; Nature Neuroscience ; Nature Physics ; Nature Reviews Cancer ; Nature Reviews Drug Discovery ; Nature Reviews Genetics ; Nature Reviews Immunology ; Nature Reviews Microbiology ; Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology ; Nature Reviews Neuroscience ; Nature Structural & Molecular Biology
After finding an article on your research topic, the database will either provide a citation and summary of the article, or it will provide the full-text (the complete article). If you are only given a citation and summary of the article, you can check the Periodical Locator to determine if the periodical you are looking for is available in another database. (The Periodical Locator is an alphabetical list of all the journals the library has access to. Feel free to talk with a librarian for assistance.) If the article is not available in any of the library's research databases, request the article using the library's Interlibrary Loan Service.
If, for your assignment, you are required to have sources from scholarly journals, use the Magazine vs. Journal guide to help you determine if your source is a magazine article or a scholarly article.
Professional Organizations
- American Association for Artificial Intelligence
http://www.aaai.org/ - American Chemical Society
http://www.chemistry.org/ - American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
http://www.aiaa.org/ - American Institute of Chemical Engineers
http://www.aiche.org/ - American Society for Engineering Education
http://www.asee.org/ - American Society of Civil Engineers
http://www.asce.org/ - American Society of Mechanical Engineers
http://www.asme.org/ - ASME: Bioengineering Division
http://www.asce.org/ - Association for Computing Machinery
http://www.acm.org/ - Association of Consulting Chemists and Chemical Engineers
http://www.chemconsult.org/ - Human Factors and Ergonomics Society
http://www.hfes.org/web/ - Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers
http://www.ieee.org/ - Institute of Industrial Engineers
http://www.iienet.org/ - Institution of Electrical Engineers
http://www.iee.org/ - International Organization for Biotechnology and Bioengineering
http://www.iobbnet.org/ - New Jersey Society of Professional Engineers
http://www.njspe.org/ - Society of Automotive Engineers
http://www.sae.org/ - Society of Women Engineers
http://www.swe.org/ - State Board of Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors
http://www.state.nj.us/lps/ca/nonmedical/pels.htm - Women in Computer Science
http://women.cs.uiuc.edu/
Internet Resources
- American National Standards Institute (ANSI)
http://www.ansi.org/ - American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM)
http://www.astm.org/cgi-bin/SoftCart.exe/index.shtml?E+mystore - Construction Web Links
http://www.constructionweblinks.com/ - Department of Defense Specifications and Standards
http://assist.daps.dla.mil/quicksearch/ - GE Industrial Systems Technical Documents
http://pm.geindustrial.com/faq/FAQ.asp - Global Electronic Components Datasheet Locator
http://www.datasheetlocator.com/ - Greatest Engineering Achievements of the Twentieth Century
http://www.greatachievements.org/ - iCivilEngineer
http://www.icivilengineer.com/ - Internet Guide to Engineering, Mathematics and Computing
http://www.eevl.ac.uk/engineering/index.htm - Inventors
http://inventors.about.com/ - Online Ethics Center for Engineering and Science
http://onlineethics.org/ - National Institute for Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering
http://www.nibib1.nih.gov/ - NSSN: A National Resource for Global Standards
http://www.nssn.org/ - Yahoo! - Science: Engineering
http://dir.yahoo.com/Science/engineering/
Additional Help
- Call or visit the Reference Desk to speak to one of the librarians. The Reference Desk is located on the main floor of the library. The phone number is 908-526-1200 x8350.
- Email your question to one of the librarians using the Ask-A-Librarian Service.
For further information about this guide, please contact Nanette Peterson
Last Updated - January, 2007