GPS: Great Problems Seminar Power the World

Professors Savilonis & Spanagel

Pre-class assignment

Developing Your Topic: Concept Map

Off campus?

Access subscribed resources by setting up proxy. Login with your WPI username/password.

Free Web vs. Scholarly Content

The free web: search engines and other free web sites such as Wikipedia
Britannica Encyclopedia Online and other subscribed Encyclopedias.

QuickFIND - Getting Started

Try QuickFIND multi-database search to retrieve results from 11 databases (including the library catalog & Worldcat for books) on your topic with one search. There are 3 ways to search:

Search QuickFIND to find at least 2 useful resources for your project.
Email them to yourself or jot the references down here.

1. ___________________________________________________________________
2. ___________________________________________________________________
3. ___________________________________________________________________

Saving/Emailing from QuickFIND

Teams can manage your citations with RefWorks if you wish to by creating a WPI mailing list alias for your project team, and a joint account (must have .wpi.edu address to use this tool).

Find Books

Search the Library Catalog for items @ WPI or WorldCat to search beyond our library.

Find Articles

Start with QuickFIND but also look at the Databases by Subject:

All databases listed are WPI subscriptions. But check out Google Scholar, a web search of scholarly sources. Many Scholar results lead you to subscribed resources as well. Within database searches, look for image or "FullTextFinder" link for retrieval options.

Search one of the following databases to find at least 1 more useful resource for your project.
Email to yourself or jot the reference(s) down here.

1. ___________________________________________________________________
2. ___________________________________________________________________

Gale PowerSearch: Articles on all topics, click more search options, limit to peer-reviewed for scholarly articles. Try the Subject Guide Search to find articles by subdivisions:
Engineering Village: Abstracts to articles, conference papers on any engineering topic (searches both the Compendex & INSPEC databases)
ScienceDirect: Current scholarly articles on sciences and social science topics.
LEXIS®-NEXIS® Academic: Current full text news, legal, medical, and business information. News coverage ranges from regional coverage (Worcester T & G; Boston Globe; New York Times) to international.

Only Finding a Citation? Getting the Full Text

Is the journal online or here in the library? Use FullTextFinder to link to full articles or retrieval options within database results or search our Journals, Magazines, & Newspapers list
Visit another library: Search WorldCat to find one
Request delivery from another library: Interlibrary Loan.

Give Credit & Cite Your Sources

Best practice: Upload and share your references with RefWorks. This a great way to save your references and share with your team members. Any references saved into your personal Refworks database can be integrated in when you write your report in MS Word. The references can be output directly into APA, MLA or other citation format for your in-text references and your bibliography.

Attend a 30 Minute QuickSkills or a 90-minute webinar to learn more.

Shared Bookmarking

Search the web to find at least 1 useful, authoritative web site for energy related research.
Connect to the PowertheWorld del.cio.us bookmarks: del.icio.us/powertheworld
Post your site(s). Login: powertheworld Password: __________.

Add Two Useful Web Links now to...

Questions?

Stop by the reference desk or set up a research consultation.

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Last modified: Feb 15, 2008, 10:34 EST