ME 362

Mechanical Engineering
Design
Part 6.1

Muhammad Ilyas
 Gathering Information

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 Sources of Information Library
Hierarchy of Library Information Sources
Technical Dictionaries
Encyclopedias
Handbooks
Textbooks
Bibliographies
Indexing and Abstracting Services
Technical and Professional Journals
Translations
Technical reports
Patents
Catalogs and manufacturers brochures

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 Sources of Information Library

Search information can

be visualized along the
path as shown

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 Sources of Information Library
Parameters describing the efficiency of
information search:
Number ofrrelevant
Numberof documents
elevant documents re retrieved
trieved
Precision
(positive predictive value) Total number
Total Numbretrieved
er retriev ed
Number
Numberofofrelevant documents
relevant documents retrieved
retrieved
Recall
(sensitivity) Number
Numberofofrelevant
relativedocuments
documentsinincollection
collecti on

A
precision
A B
A
recall
A D
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 Sources of Information Library
Parameters describing the efficiency of
information search:
Number ofrrelevant
Numberof documents
elevant documents re retrieved
trieved
Precision
Total number
Total Numbretrieved
er retriev ed
Number
Numberofofrelevant documents
relevant documents retrieved
retrieved
Recall
Number
Numberofofrelevant
relativedocuments
documentsinincollection
collecti on
When conveying your search to
the librarian, better tact is to tell
the librarian what you do not
know about topic rather than
describe what you already know

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 Sources of Information Library
Class Assignment

Relevant: Red Pattern

Calculate Precision & Recall

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 Sources of Information Library
Parameters describing the efficiency of information
search:
Numberof relevant
Number of relevant documents
documents retrieved
retrieved
Precision
Total
Total Numb
number er retriev ed
retrieved
Number
Number of relevant
of relevant documents
documents retrieved retrieved
Recall
Number
Number of relative
of relevant documents
documents in collecti on
in collection

Relevant: Red Pattern

18 7 17
P P P
35 7 21
18 7 17
R R R
18 18 18

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 Dictionaries and Encyclopedias
Dictionaries : Provide illustrated definition of terms
used for any technical area, e.g. :
ASM Materials Engineering Dictionary
Dictionary of Mechanical Engineering
Dictionary of Engineering
Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms
Encyclopedias : A good place to start for technically
trained person who is beginning to learn about a new
subject, e.g. :
Encyclopedia of Materials Sciences and Engineering
Encyclopedia of Science and Engineering
Encyclopedia of Physics
Encyclopedia of Environmental Science and Engineering

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 Handbooks
Handbooks : compendia of useful
technical data
Provide : technical description of theory
and its applications
Good : refreshers once studied in greater
detail
Technical topics : engineering
fundamentals, calculations, materials,
manufacturing, installation
Roarks Formulas for Stress and Strain, 8th Ed
Machinerys Handbook, 29th Ed

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 Textbooks and Monographs
If you want to find what books are available in a
particular field of work : Books in Print or
Internet book selling services such as
www.McGrawHill.com
www.amazon.com
www.johnwiley.com

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 Indexing and Abstracting services
Indexing service : cites the articles by title, author and
bibliographic data
Abstracting Service : provides a summary of the
contents of the articles
Indexing and abstracting services : current information
on periodical literature, a way to retrieve published
literature
Include books, conference proceedings, technical reports,
patents

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 Indexing and Abstracting services
Conducting a search for published literature :
Like putting together a large puzzle
Better strategy : start with the most recent subject
indexes and abstracts and try to find a current review
article or general technical paper
The references cited in it : search back along the
ancestor references to find the research that led to the
current state of knowledge
Identify key documents (Note : it takes 6~12 months for
a reference to be included in an index or abstract service,
so current research might not be picked up using this
strategy)

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 Indexing and Abstracting services

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 Translations
Scientific & Technical Literature : mostly in English
An experienced translator can complete 5 pages a day
Translator Machines although not yet developed
properly can increase this to 15 pages a day
Software : available to translate from one language to
another

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Catalogues, Brochures & Business Information
Catalogue: detailed specification of products of a
company
Brochures : introduce a company or organization and
inform about products and / or services

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Catalogues, Brochures & Business Information

Technical libraries : business and

commercial information that is
important in design
Obtained from trade literature, visits to
trade shows, Thomas Register of
American Manufacturers,
(www.thomasnet.com,
www.alibaba.com), Annual trade
publications

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Catalogues, Brochures & Business Information
Information also available from Ministry of Commerce,
Industries and Production, Bureau of the Census
Statistics, etc
Information : arranged by industry according to the North
American Industry Classification System (NAICS), e.g.
products in primary metal industry start with 33,
transportation equipment with 37, etc
Pakistan Standard Industrial Classification (PSIC) :

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Catalogues, Brochures & Business Information

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 Information from the Internet
Why general search engines (e.g Google, Yahoo) are not
enough?
Do not check search results for quality and reliability
Index less than half of the internet
a lot of scientific information is available in restricted databases
that can only be accessed upon payment
Make use of scientific sources of information
Web of Science (bibliographic database and citation database)
Google Scholar (bibliographic database and citation database)
Business Source Complete (full text database and citation
database)
ERIC (bibliographic database)

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